


Hope In Chaos

by Tringamer360



Series: The Council of Chaos [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, First Work On This Site!, Hyped For This!!!, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-02-09 21:15:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 22,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12896964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tringamer360/pseuds/Tringamer360
Summary: Trinity Starr Has the ability to use the power of the Cyan Chaos Emerald. When the mysterious Council of Chaos requests her help, Trin is pulled into a huge adventure as she and her friends race to find the seven Chaos Emeralds! Meanwhile, Scrouge the Hedgehog's secret ally has some dangerous plans....





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> My first work on this site! HHHHHYYYPPPPEEEE! Thanks friends, for being there during the two months it took me to write this by hand.......(ack!) Anywho, enjoy! This is definately NOT the end!!!!!!:)  
> -T.G.

_We are the Council of Chaos._  
_This council consists of the seven Chaos Keepers and their Protectors. We keep the order throughout the universe of Sega-Mobius. All of the dimensions and worlds are cared for by us._  
_But now, we need help._  
  The reunited council gathered around a table, arguing.  
  “We need to keep peace!” one member, a crystallized purple cat, exclaimed.  
  “No, we need to fight!” a different member, a blue butterfly that was also crystallized, countered. The purple cat stood up fast.  
  “We can’t fight! We are missing a member and his Protectors, and we have no idea where they are!” she shouted. Just then, the oldest member stood. He was a wise green turtle who also seemed to have a crystalline look to him. All of the members went silent as he stood.  
  “I know where the Cyan Chaos Keeper has gone,” the turtle said. The rest of the council burst into questions. The turtle raised his hands for silence.  
  “After we disbanded last time, he went to the Prime Zone Mobius, where he was from, to start a new life. He got that new life, along with a family and three daughters,” he explained.  
  “Then let’s go and get him back!” A sparkling silver rabbit stood, and his suggestion brought about murmurs from the other members. The turtle, still standing, shook his head.  
  “We cannot,” he replied. Shouts of shock filled the room. The silver rabbit frowned.  
  “And why is that, Octavius? Why can’t we bring back our strongest member in this time of need?” he questioned. A white bunny by his side pulled on his hand gently. Her pin with a silver Chaos Emerald engraved on it identified her as one of his Protectors.  
  “Sit down, Silvian,” she whispered. Silvian looked from Octavius to her, then reluctantly sat. Octavius began again.  
  “Members of the Council of Chaos, I bring sad news.” Everyone seemed to hold their breath, waiting. Octavius looked down at the table, then back up to the Council.  
  “Carter Starr is dead.”  
  The room exploded with sound. Shouts filled the air as everyone tried to ask questions all at once.  
  “Our strongest member is dead?!?”  
  “What will we do?”  
  “This is why we have to keep peace!”  
  “QUIET!” the blue butterfly shouted over everyone else. “Octavius is not finished!” The members fell silent, then sat one by one.  
  “Thank you, Jennika,” Octavius said. “Carter Starr may be dead, but one of his daughters has shown promise as a new member.” The group’s voices rose in murmurs again.  
  “So what do we do, Octavius?” the purple cat asked. Octavius smiled.  
  “We contact Orchid Starr, one of his former Protectors and the mother of the next Cyan Chaos Keeper.”  
\-------------------------------------------------------✩-----------------------------------------------------------------


	2. Chapter 1

 I grin and launch myself at my opponent, who dashes out of the way just in time. I land and spin around to see the downward swing of a hammer. My cyan shield comes up at will, blocking the blow. I attempt to leap at her again, and this time I land a hit. Then I duck under the hammer at resume my starting position across from her.

 “Come on, Amy! It’s going to take a lot more than that to beat me!” I shout. The pink hedgehog grins.

 “How’s this for a lot more, Trinity?” she calls back, then magics up another hammer. Crouching down, I prepare to attack again.

 “Whoa, whoa! That’s enough, girls!” Sally, the leader of the Freedom Fighters and one of my friends, slides between us. “If you two keep this up, you’re going to wear yourselves out before you can fight for real!”

 I stand back up, dusting myself off. “Come on, Sally. It’s only practice for a real fight,” I say calmly. Amy nods in agreement. Then someone’s hand touches my shoulder I look over to see Sonic, one of my best friends since practically forever, grinning at the other two.

 “You should listen to her, Sal. Never know what’ll happen,” he tells her. He looks over a me and winks. I roll my eyes in response, used to his teasing after being friends with him for so many years.

 “Heeeeey, Sonic,” Amy says dreamily (if you can’t tell, she has a pretty obvious crush on him). Sally just blushes lightly and looks away, waving. Aaaand cue my facepalm.

 I at least have to give Sally more credit than Amy. She doesn’t make an  _ entire  _ fool out of herself.

 “Why does Amy always do that?” Sonic whispers to me. I roll my eyes again.

 “Why, I have absolutely  _ no _ idea. Maybe you’re just clueless,” I whisper back sarcastically. He gives me a confused, slightly hurt expression.

 “What was that?” Amy asks. Oops, she heard something.

 “Nothing!” Sonic and I shout at the same time. Amy looks like she’s about to say something else, but then Tails flies up, out of breath.

 “Trin, it’s….it’s your mom,” he gasps between deep breaths. “She called...and said that...that she needs to see you.” I grab his and Sonic’s hands as soon as he’s finished and start running at top speed. “Wait! I...need...to breathe!”

 “Then don’t fly!” I respond, speeding up. When we reach my house, I burst through the door. “Mom!”

 She glances up at me from a small, glowing mirror. “Ah. I’ll have to speak with you later,” she tells the mirror. Or rather, the person speaking to her through the mirror. She was casting a spell.

 A communication spell.

 “Mom?” I start, following her into the living room. Sunny might not be here, because I haven’t seen her yet. Mom sit down on the couch.

 “Look, Trinity, I… I need to talk to you,” she says, patting the couch beside her. I sit down, extremely confused. “It’s about your father.”

 “What about Dad?” I ask, fingering the silvery-blue necklace my dad gave me before…

 “Trinity, your father...Carter was a very special person. You know that he had the same powers that you have, and that he used them for good. He used them to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves.

 “He worked with a certain group of people. A few moments ago, one of his- let’s say colleagues- contacted me. They know that your father is gone. But they believe that you might have the same promise as him.

 “So they would like to meet you.”

 My eyes widen at this. “Wait, they want to meet me? Why?”

 “They think you might be like your father. They have an interesting proposition for you, but they want to meet with you specifically and personally,” Mom explains.

 Hold up,” Sonic says from beside me. He must’ve sat there without me knowing. “They want to meet with Trin because of her powers?” he asks, talking like it’s the most stupid thing in the whole universe.

 “I’ve been planning for her to meet them with her sisters for years. Some of them were Carter’s closest friends. This meeting is just going to happen a little sooner a more different than I expected.”

 “And you’re going to have some extra people,” Sonic says. “Because if you think I’m going to let Trin go off somewhere with only herself to protect her, then you can forget about-”

 “You can come,” my mom says calmly. Sonic, who stood up sometime during this, looks genuinely surprised.

 “Oh. Okay,” he says, sitting slowly. “Well then.”

 “Please don’t talk about me like I’m not here. And exactly  _ who _ am I- are we- going to see?” I ask. Mom smiles.

 “The Council of Chaos.”

\-----------------------------------------------------★-------------------------------------------------------------


	3. Chapter 2

 Mom refused to tell me anything after that until we reached the Council’s meeting place, so I’m left to be confused until we get there. Sonic and Tails, true as two buds could ever be, come along with Mom and I and try to help me come up with ideas as to what on Mobius is going on.

 “Well, we know they aren’t evil,” Tails says. “If they were, your dad wouldn’t have worked with them. And since when have you guys had a hover-car?”

 “I don’t know,” I respond quietly.

 “And they have something to do with the Chaos Emeralds,” Sonic adds, ignoring Tails’ question. He looks over at me. My confusion and frustration must be written on my face because his expression changes from one of concentration to one of worry. “Hey. Are you okay?”

 “Do you think,” I start slowly. “Do you two think that I might not be the only one?”

 “The only one of what?” Tails asks.

 “Not the only person who can control the power of a Chaos Emerald,” I answer. “That maybe there are other people- other  _ families _ \- that have the same power.”

 “Oh. Wow. I actually never thought of that,” Sonic says in shock. Tails nods in agreement.

 “But if it’s possible for me then it could be possible for others!” I exclaim. I’m not sure why I raise my voice suddenly. I stop talking, pressing a hand to my face.

 “Trin, look. There’s not much we can do until we get there. Except for theorize,” Tails explains, trying to calm me. Then the hover-car that I never knew we had stops.

 “And get there we have,” Mom says from the front. We all get out to see a crystal building. I stand in awe for a moment.

 “Whoa! This is crazy!” I hear Sonic shout in disbelief. I turn to him, Mom, and Tails to see all three of them looking like crystals. I look at myself to see that I also look like I’m made of diamonds. Like gems.

 Like the Chaos Emeralds.

 Mom pushes open the doors that lead inside. We walk through an entry hall to a large room with a table (that looks like crystal. Everything here does). Many people sit around the table, but only six of them have the full crystal effect. The rest only look like they’ve had gem dust tossed over them.

 One catches my eye and immediately stands and claps. The action spreads through the room. Cheers erupt.

 “She’s here!”

 “We are complete again!”

 “She looks almost exactly like him!”

 This all catches me off-guard. I shrink back slightly, bumping into Sonic. He smiles at me and put an arm around my shoulders, a silent reassurement.

 “I do  _ not _ like this,” I whisper to him. “I think I’m going to die.”

 He grins and leans towards me. “You can’t die,” he jokes. “You’re the invincible Trinity.” That makes me smile, mostly because it’s almost true. Most enemies can’t get close enough during a fight to hurt me, much less kill me.

 The green turtle raises his hands for silence. When everyone settles down, he smiles.

 “Welcome, Trinity Starr. We are glad that you decided to come and meet us, the Council of Chaos. I am Octavius, the Green Chaos Keeper and the leader of the Council. Please let me introduce you to Jennika, the Blue Chaos Keeper…” A blue butterfly stands up, her crystal wings fluttering.

 “Sandelia, the Yellow Chaos Keeper…” A yellow hedgehog stands up. She’s extremely peculiar-looking, with slightly webbed hands and an outfit that looks like those of the citizens of Meropis.When she stands, she stumbles a bit and the butterfly- Jennika- helps her.

 Octavius notices me watching her with curiosity. “She’s a sea-hedgehog,” he explains, as though he can tell what I’m thinking. “Ahem. There is Silvian, the Silver Chaos Keeper…” A silver rabbit stands up, but he doesn’t smile.  _ He’s got his guard up, _ I think. He looks young, though, his silver fur not matching his age.

 “Angelica, the Purple Chaos Keeper..” A purple cat stands, smiling at me with a kind sweetness. She has small, angel-like wings that seem to be floating near her instead of being attached to her.

 “And Rubehedro, the Red Chaos Keeper.” A red echidna that kind of reminds me of Knuckles (most echidnas remind me of Knuckles) stands up, completing the list. The strange thing about this group is that they are the six people that are crystallized. They sparkle and throw bits of rainbow light when they move. It’s amazing and beautiful and glorious all at the same time.

 “Hi, um, so why exactly did you guys need to see Trin?” Sonic asks, getting to the point as he usually does.

 “Orchid didn’t tell you?” Octavius says, genuinely surprised. He turns to Mom. “You didn’t tell them?”

 “I thought it would be easier if you explained it,” my mother responds.

 “Ah. Well, you see, your father was a member of this Council, Trinity. As was your mother. Orchid was a Protector, which are what these other members are. They can perform magic and are skilled fighters. Your mother was a Cyan Chaos Protector, meaning she was to protect both the Cyan Chaos Emerald and the Cyan Chaos Keeper.”

 Wait, so you want me to become a Chaos Protector?” I ask, confused. Octavius shakes his head. “Then what…?”

 “A Keeper, Trinity. We would like you to join us as the Cyan Chaos Keeper, like your father was,” Octavius explains.

 “Wait, what?” I ask as Sonic says “Heck no!” I look over at him and he looks back, defiant.

 “I’m not letting you risk your life on this,” he says. I glare at him.

 “It’s  _ my  _ decision,” I retort. He shakes his head.

 “No.”

 “We’ll talk about this later,Sonic.” I turn to Octavius. “What do you mean ‘my dad was the Cyan Chaos Keeper’? He led a normal life.”

 “After a universal crisis, we always go back to our home worlds. Carter did the same. So for the time you knew him, he did lead a normal life. But you knew about his powers, didn’t you?” I nod, all of it coming somewhat together. “You have the same powers, Trinity. And it ties to the Cyan Chaos Emerald, making you Carter Starr’s heir Keeper.”

 I shake my head, which feels like it’s spinning. “None of this makes any sense…”

 “That’s perfectly fine. You all must be tired and quite overwhelmed. We can explain the crisis tomorrow. Jennika, Sandelia, Crystalline.” The two Keepers look up, as well as a white rabbit with a noticeable silver pin. The pin is the only crystal part of her or her outfit. She sits right next to Silvian. “Please show our guests to our spare rooms.”

 The Keepers walk over to us immediately, but the rabbit hugs Silvian first, kissing the top of his head. He attempts to duck out of the way, but not fast enough. Then she comes over to us.

 As soon as we’re out of the room and in a hall, the three girls scream excitedly.

 “Oh my gosh, it’s really you!” Jennika shrieks.

 “Are you really Carter Starr’s daughter?” Sandelia asks.

 “Will you really become the next Cyan Chaos Keeper?” the rabbit- I think it’s Crystalline- questions.

 “Um, maybe?” I answer, unsure. “I’m still trying to get used to all of this.” I wave my hand around to indicate what I mean. They nod.

 “It  _ can _ be overwhelming,” Crystalline says. The others wander ahead, leaving just me and her.

 “Um, so about Silvian,” I say awkwardly.

 “Yeah, he always has his guard up. Not around me, but that’s because he trusts me. He’s cool once you get to know him though,” Crystalline explains.

 “Uh, are you two dating or something?” I ask. She laughs.

 “No! I’m his older sister,” she replies, still giggling. Now that she mentions it, I can see the similarities between the two rabbits. “I chose to be his Protector because of that.”

 “Oh.”

 “It wouldn’t matter anyway. No Keeper really ever maintains a relationship with their Protectors.”

 “What? Why not?”

 “Well, you could, but your Protectors are usually separated into two groups: your friends who can fight and your team that’s assigned. The latter is usually people that are 5 to 10 years older than you. The first group... well, they’re your friends.”

 “Ah.”

 “Yeah. Hey, that’s your mom’s room.” Crystalline points to a door that just closed. “Anyway, your parents are kind of legendary. Partly because of your mom and partly because your dad was so powerful. He was really kind, but still really powerful.”

 “Huh.”

 “Hey, Trinity, this is your room!”Jennika calls to me. One door away from my mom’s, at the end of the hall, sits ‘my room’.

 “Thanks. Who’s in the room between mine and my mom’s?” I ask.

 “Your little fox friend. With the two tails,” Sandelia responds. “And your blue friend in the other room beside yours.”

 Thanks again, you three,” I say, realizing that I totally mean it. Jennika shrugs and Sandelia traces a small semi-circle on the ground in front of her with a webbed foot.

 “Anytime, Trinity,” Crystalline says. I grin and go into ‘my new room’, closing the door and enjoying some solitude.

\-----------------------------------------------------★-------------------------------------------------------------


	4. Chapter 3

Apparently Sonic doesn’t understand that I want to enjoy solitude.

 He knocks on my door after about half an hour. When I tell him to go away, he just walks right in.

 “I said to go away,” I mumble loud enough for him to hear.

 “Yeah, well you also said we’d talk later,” he retorts. I groan and flop on the bed, my face in the pillow. I was hoping he’d forget that. “You know, they gave us the rooms of the former Cyan Chaos Keeper and Protectors.”

 “Cool.”

 “No! Not cool! They’re already assuming you’ll say yes, Trin!”

 I roll over and sigh, closing my eyes. Then I open my eyes and look at him. “Look, I don’t feel like fighting with you. I just found out that both my parents were part of a magic council of people who have powers tied to seven magic emeralds- the _same_ emeralds you use when you go super, mind you- and I am expected to join them by taking one of the highest positions because I have my father’s powers and he had that position too! But I don’t even know what the cause is here and I’m just supposed to roll with it!” By this time, I’m yelling at him.

 “Yeah, but-”

 “I’m not finished!” I shout. “I’ve been told what I should do and what I shouldn’t do, what I _will_ do and what I won’t do. And everything I’ve been told makes absolutely no sense! So I don’t need you over here, becoming a part of this insane mess!” At some point, I stood up, so I half-sit, half-flop back down onto the bed, covering my face with my hands even though I’m not crying. A few moments later, Sonic sits next to me, putting an arm around my shoulders.

 “I didn’t want it to seem like that,” he says quietly. I lean into him, tired from the yelling, and he puts his other arm around me. “I just want to make sure you’re safe. Are you okay?” I nod, then shake my head, then sigh.

 “I don’t know. All of this is so insane, I can’t even tell anymore. Don’t you think I can protect myself?” I ask him.

 “I’m allowed to want to protect you, even if you can do it too, aren’t I?”

 “It doesn’t feel like that.”

 “Why can’t I want to keep you safe? I thought that was part of our friendship.”

 “At this point, I don’t even know what our ‘friendship’ is.” He pulls back and looks at me. Gosh darn it, his eyes are the most vibrant green I’ve ever seen.

 “It’s us, Trinity,” he says. He almost never calls me by my full first name. “It’s you and me taking care of each other. That’s not going to change, okay?” He touches his head to mine. “It will never change,” he whispers. I smile.

 Then Tails opens the door.

 “Hey, Trin, I- oh,” he says, looking at us. We had already slid to opposite sides, but he had seen it. Tails' face grows red. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt....uh, um.."

  "Did you ever learn to knock?" I ask him as Sonic says, "It's okay, bud."

  "Sorry," he apologizes again. Someone could mistake his face for a tomato with eyes, a nose, and a mouth. I'm tempted to tell him this, but I decide against it. "Um...."

  "Why'd you bust into my room?" I ask.

  "Right. Uh, Jennika and Sandelia were wondering if you wanted to go with them to 'explore'. It's okay if you don't want to though....." Tails explains.

  "Is 'in the morning' an option here?"

  "It-it can be?"

  "Then there's my answer. Go." Tails walks out the door sheepishly. "And next time, knock!" I call after him. Then I sigh and lay back on the bed. Sonic smiles at me.

  "You're too hard on him," he says. "Like, drill-sargent hard."

  "Am not." I throw a small pillow at him and it hits his arm.

  "Hey. Okay, maybe not that hard. More like 'watch where you're going or you're going to run headfirst into a tree' hard." He picks up the pillow and tosses it back to me. I catch it in midair and toss it over his head and into a chair.

  "Gooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaallllll!!!!" I shout as he says, "And the crowd goes wild! Yaahhh!" We burst into laughter that takes us forever to get over.

  "Ah. Aaahh," I gasp. My sides hurt. Then we start laughing again, my sides getting hit with wave after wave of pain.

  It's a happy pain, though.

  "You know I have to go, right?" Sonic tells me when we can finally stop laughing.

  "Yeah," I answer.

  "I'm going to go now, you know."

  "Yeah."

  "You good?"

  "Uh-huh."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Absolutely- positively."

  "Oookay. See you tomorrow, Trin."

  "Night." Sonic leaves closing the door behind him. After the door shuts, an overwhelming sense of exhaustion hits me. I lay down, falling asleep to my thoughts of how I'm going to deal with this tomorrow.

\----------------------------------------------------------✩------------------------------------------------------


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the hits, guys! I really appreciate it. I'm up for any suggestions on how to make this better (cause I'm still editing *crying*), so comment if you have a suggestion! Thanks again!

  "We have an interdeminsional crisis," Octavius announces.

  After I explored with Jennika and Sandelia, we all gathered in the meeting room from yesterday. The plan for this meeting is to address this, come up with a plan, and head out. Oh yeah, and induct me if I decide to join them as the Cyan Chaos Keeper.

  I'm going to say yes.

  I want to join. These people are like me and they can help. I can be an alliance link between them and the Freedom Fighters.

  But I also want to join because it feels right. Like it's my place, my way of doing the right thing. My way to carry on the work my father did to protect everyone. Besides, I already talked to Sonic about it.

  "I don't know if you should..." he had said when I told him. "What if you hurt yourself, or get yourself killed?"

  "I won't," I had replied. "You'll be there to keep me safe."

  "Yeah,but- wait, what?"

  "I want you to be one of my Protectors. Tails and Mom, too." He obviously agreed, ecstatic about having a place in all of this. I pull myself back to the present, focusing on the matter at hand.

  "Recently, we've had some news come in about a dangerous alliance," Octavius continues. "Scourge the Hedgehog has aligned himself and his allies with Eggman." Shouts fill the room, most of them outraged. "There's more," Octavius says, just loud enough for everyone to hear. We all fall silent.

  "They are searching for all seven Chaos Emeralds."

  "What for?!?!" Silvian shouts, jumping up. Octavius shakes his head.

  "I do not know."

  "But Eggman's always been after the Chaos Emeralds," Sonic says. Everyone turns to him, but he stands unnerved. "He could be trying anything."

  "I say we bombard them with everything we've got," Rubehedro almost growls. Silvian nods his head in agreement.

  "Yeah, but Rue? All we've got is us," Jennika counters. She waves her hand, indicating the small group gathered here. "This is it."

  "We wouldn't get past all of Eggman's defenses _and_ Scourge's lackeys," Sandelia adds. Rubehedro- Rue- rolls his eyes.

  "What's your suggestion then?" he asks. Jennika, ever so prepared and tactful,clears her throat.

  " _I_ think," she begins," that we should send a group to fight and a group to sneak past them whenever they find a Chaos Emerald. We can trail behind them at all times."

  "No," I say. Everyone turns to me, who hasn't spoken yet. "That won't work. There are multiple Chaos Emerald Energy signatures that will be picked up. Eggman will go after the ones that look promising, more than one at a time, even if they aren't the Chaos Emeralds."

  "So what should we do?" Sandelia asks.

   _Deep breaths, Trin_.  _Deep breaths,_ I think. "We induct me into the Council of Chaos as the Cyan Chaos Keeper. Then we align ourselves with the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix and do our best to find the Emeralds before Eggman and Scourge do." It's short. It's underdeveloped. Heck, it's more like a wishlist.

  But it's a start.

  "So you accept?" Octavius asks. I nod. Jennika and Sandelia jump up and run to my side.

  "That's as good a plan as any!" Jennika says. "I'm in!"

  "Welcome to the Council of Chaos, Trinity!" Sandelia adds.

  "Then we will have to go to Angel Island for your induction ceremony!" Octavius declares. "Rubehedro, can you contact Locke the Guardian?"

  "On it," Rue replies, then ducks out the door.

  "Hey, we can tell Knuckles about this and he can warn the Chaotix while we're there!" Tails says. I look over and smile at him, ruffling his head fur.

  "Excellent," Octavius replies . "All right, everyone, we are set!" Everyone crowds out the door. I meet up with Mom and my friends in the corridor.

  "You made a good decision, Trinity," my mom tells me. "I'm proud of you."

  "Thanks, Mom."

  Let me go contact Sunny and Holly and let them know how we are, okay?" she says, thenhugs me and heads to her room. Tails looks over at us, then gets this look of realization on his face.

  "Oh. Oh, I probably need to tell Sally what's going on, don't I? Let me go do that real quick. Be back in a few!" he says, then flies off to his room. Man, I wish I could fly all the time.

  "So that leaves you and me," Sonic says, drawing my attention to him. "Anything you want to do?"

  "Hm. I was going to see about getting you one of those Protector pins. Do you think they have cyan ones? " I answer, flicking his shoulder. He makes a face of mock outrage and I'm about to flick him again, but Rue runs out of a room into the hall.

  "Octavius, if we're gonna do the ceremony, Locke says to get there ASAP. Angel Island is under attack!" he exclaims.

   _"What?!?!"_ Octavius shouts. That has to be the first time I've ever actually heard Octavius shout.  _Augh, not the time or place, Trinity!_ I think.  _Focus!_ Everyone has gatered together, holding hands despite the urgency t get over there.

  "Uh, is this really the time for a friendship circle? Angel Island needs our help!" Sonic shouts. Someone takes his hand as someone else takes mine. Out of reflex, I take Sonic's other hand. Looking around, I see Tails and Mom with a few others, following the hand-holding thing.

  Then something cold whips through me. I shut my eyes tight and gasp. For a moment, it feels like I'm floating. Then I feel the ground underneath me again. I open my eyes and gasp again.

  Because the ground? Green grass. We're on Angel Island.

  We just did some awesome teleportation.

  The Chaotix and a few other people I don't know are trying to fend off the robots and Moebuis villians, but it's obvious that some of them aren't fighters. Sonic, at my side, ios practically crushing my hand.

  "Go," I tell him. He looks at me, then back at the fighting. He shakes his head like he's confused, but I hold up our linked hands. "Go. You know you need to." He nod then, determined, and releases my hand

  "Tails, come on!" he calls. The little fox is with him in moments and together they start smashing bots like complete bosses.

  Have I mentioned that I love my friends?

  Jennika takes my hand. "Come on Trin, we have to hurry," she says urgently, almost like she's already out of breath. The Chaos Keepers and I, along with a few Protectors, follow Locke to the Master Emerald. When we reach it, Locke spins to look at us.

  "I suggest you hurry. I'm going to send Knuckles over to move it as soon as I can," he says, then rushes off to the fight again.

  "Let us begin," Octavius says. The Keepers spread out to designated spots. The spots, I notice, wher the Chaos Emeralds each one represents usually sit. "Trinity, as leader of the Council of Chaos, I speak for us all when I say that I am glad that you are joining us. Will you uphold courage and kindness, and always do what is right, as your ancestors have?"

  The reply comes as easy as anything gets. "Yes, I will."

  "Then please step forward as the Keepers give you your place through the Master Emerald." I obey, and each member is engulfed in brilliant colored light. The crystal effect that dissapeared when we teleported to Angel Island is back, making them seem like they hold the power of the stars. One by one, they reach a hand out toward the Master Emerald, directing raw power into it.

  But instead of working the way I think it was supposed to, the magic simply bounces off the Emerald's surface.

  "What?" Sandelia says in disbelief. Their power fades, leaving them normal. "Trin, try touching it. Maybe tapping into the Emerald's power?"

  I touch it. Nothing happens. But when I reach for the endless circle of power that fills it, I run into a barrier. Unbreakable by my magic, I tell the others and they try. Nothing works.

  "The Emerald.... it's blocking our power," I realize. "It's rejecting us."

\----------------------------------------------------------✩------------------------------------------------------


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh. My. Gosh. 20 hits! Thanks sooo much you guys! Enjoy Chapter 5!

  "What? The Master Emerald's never done that! It _can't_ do that!" Angelican says. Knuckles runs up.

  "Hope you guys are done," he says gruffly. "I've got to move the Emerald _now_." He looks so mad and dejected, like he's failed something.

  "I'm afraid I can't let you do that," someone says. Someone else grabs my arms from behind and twists them behind my back. I squirm in pian, trying to get free, but the person knocks me down onto my stomach and pins me there.

  "Hey there, Trin. Did you miss me?" a female voice remarks from behind and above me. It's strangely familiar.....

  "F-Fiona?" I ask, stuttering slightly from the pain. The person's grip tightens.

  "In the flesh," she answers. A different person approaches me from the front, only their shoes visible. The person kneels down and lifts my chin so I can see.

  "You've let your guard down, Trin," Scourge the Hedgehog tells me. "I thought it would take more than that to take you down." I jerk my head out of his grip.

  "Where's Sonic, you buffoon?" I growl. Scourge smiles terribly

  "A bit caught up at the moment," he responds, standing up. "Eggman's bots have him busy right now."

  "Actually, I think I'd like to join the party now," Sonic's voice announces from behind him. A blue blur knocks into Scourge, who falls, off-balance. Sonic stands over him, two almost-alike figures. "Let go of Trin!"

  "Pff! Right, like I'd do that," Scourge answers He gets up and the two of them launch into a fight that I know can't be won on either side.

  "Sonic, stop! You're too evenly matched!" I shout. One of the Destructix, a massive gorilla, grabs Sonic, restraining him. Scourge laughs.

  "I think I'm a bit better," he says to Sonic. Scourge turns to the Master Emerald. "And with Locke busy-"

  "Dad!" Knuckles exclaims, pinned by not one but _two_ of the Destructix. Mr. Scum-face continues like nothing happened.

  "- I can go Super off the Master Emerald and summon the Chaos Emeralds in a flash." Scourge reaches out and touches the Master Emerald, attempting to tap into its magic reserves. After a moment, he frowns. "Why won't it work?"

  "Dad locked its power inside of it. It's useless to you," Knuckles says, trying to knock the two Destructix off of him. "Sorry, Trin, he forgot to tell you guys." I nod. So that's why it didn't work.

  "How do I unlock it, then?" Scourge growls through clenched teeth. Knuckles stills for a moment, out of breath.

  "And why would I tell you that?"

  "I could have your dad tell me. It would be very unpleasant for him, I can assure you that," Scourge retorts. Knuckles sighs.

  "You need the seven Chaos Emeralds. That's all I can tell you,"Knuckles complies. Then I summon my cyan bubble-shield and knock Fiona off of me. My hands glowing with my magic, I approach Scourge slowly. His face changes from disappointed to disturbed.

  "I suggest," I tell him, "that you leave before I blast you and your ragtag group of crazies to the ends of Mobius." Scourge scowls and snaps his fingers. His cronies release the others.

  "We'll leave Angel Island. But I'm going to find those Chaos Emeralds, Trinity. Eggman and I have a plan, and we are going to follow through with it." Scourge heads off, but before he crosses the bridge, I shoot a warning blast that just misses his shoulder. He flinches slightly and keeps moving. Fiona, the little traitor, blows a kiss in our direction.

  "See you later. Maybe there will be more of a tussle next time," she calls. I'm itching to blast her, but I know it will only start the fight she wants. Instead, I drop my hands in disgust.

  "What do we do now?" Rue asks. HE looks every bit as angry as I feel.

  "We have to find the Chaos Emeralds, obviously," Jennika says. "Knuckles- it's Knuckles,right?- do you know where they are?"

  "I can track them, but I don't know where they are," Knuckles responds. "I know that they got scattered throughout the zones, though. And yes, it's Knuckles."

  "Guys!" Someone behind me hugs me tight. I turn to see Amy, worry clouding her light-green eyes. "What happened? Echidnaopolis is scattered with broken robots. They're everywhere! Oh, Trin, you look like you got trounced!"

  "Surprise attacked, actually," I mutter tartly. "What happened with you guys?" Sally, Antoine, and Bunnie have accompanied Amy6, who has now turned her attention to Sonic's battered appearance.

  "Exactly what Amy said," Sally answers. "We got here after all the action to find everything in a wreck, then came over here to find you, Sonic, and Tails with.....I'm guessing that's the Council of Chaos. We have no idea what's happened besides what Tails told us earlier."

  "Okay. Well, the Master Emerald's locked and we can't use it's power. Apparently Knuckles' dad did that. So we need the Chaos Emeralds so we can stop Eggman and Scourge and unlock the Master Emerald so I can become the Cyan Chaos Keeper," I explain. Sally looks a little confused. "I'll.....I'll explain more later."

  "Okay then. Let's all head back to Freedom HQ and get you guys healed." Sally comms Rotor. "Hey Rote? Power up our Chaos Emerald tracking programs, all right? We'll be there soon."

  "You got it, Sal," Rotor's voice answers, coming through a little static-like. But you know, we _are_ on a floating island.

  "Let's head out!" Sally calls.


	7. Chapter 6

  About half an hour later, we're all at Freedom HQ, the Freedom Fighter home base near the Great Wastes. The Chaos energy tracker is up, but Tails is attempting to add zonal range to it. Amy is getting strong readings with her Mystic Melody though, so there's a step forward.

  The step back? Sonic refused to admit that he's injured. And therefore refuses to let anyone try to help him.

  "I'm _fine_ , Trin. Go heal the others," he insists. I roll my eyes.

  "One, you are clearly not fine. Two, the only other person to heal besides you is me, and I won't heal myself until you're healed. And three, if you don't sit yoursefl down and let me heal you, I'll kill you instead!" I say, fed up. Sonic looks at me both dubiously and worriedly. Because he's one of those people who can do that.

  "You look half-dead at the moment anyway. You're going to wear yourself out," he tells me. I throw my hands up in frustration. Angelica, who said I could call her Angel (they all have nicknames it seems, except for Octavius and Silvian), walks over.

  "You know, I could do it," she offers. "My powers specialize in healing. I could heal you two and still have plenty of energy."

  "Please!" I exclaim, exasperated.

  "No thanks," Sonic replies. "I'm fine." Angel, the sweet girl, trusts my judgement over Sonic's and starts to heal us both. I sigh in relief as my scratches and scrapes heal over and some sort of warm, happy calm settles inside me. I look over at Sonic, who relaxes some but still looks angry. I sigh again. I sadly can't please everyone.

  "Hey, I'm picking up on something!" Amy says excitedly. "The reading seems to be coming from....I don't recognize it." Jennika- Jen- has been watching Amy with facination.

  "Let me try," she says. Then, to the surprise of us Freedom Fighters, she performs a Mystic Melody as perfect as Amy ever has. "It seems to be in...the Techno Park Zone?" She opens her eyes. "I might be wrong. It's been a while since I've used this."

  "You can use the Mystic Melody?!?" Amy squeals. Jen grins and nods.

  "Like I said, it's been a while. I'm actually kind of surprised  _you_ can. I thought only the Meropis priestesses and I knew it, besides mystic spirits."

  "Yeah, I learned from the latest on," Amy says sheepishly.

  "The Techno Park Zone? I haven't heard of that one yet," Tails says from underneath the dashboard of the main Chaos tracker. "What's it like?"

  "Uh, like techno. It's kind of like the planet Sonic went to when he had to stop Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park, or whatever it was called."

  j"Which one? There were multiple planets," Sonic says. Jen closes her eyes, thinking.

  "I believe it was the one where you found the Blue Cube Wisp."

  "Oooohhhhhh,"Sonic and Tails realize. Jen nods.

  "This zone just has more running ground. Oh, and instruments."

  "Wait, Instruments?" Jen smiles cryptically. 

  "You'll see."

  "Rotor, do you still have those star-posts?" Sally calls to him. Rotor, who is in the lab, doesn't respond. Then there's a loud crash and Rotor shouts "Ow!" Sally runs to help him.

  "What happened, Rotor?" Tails asks, still underneath the tracker.

  "Some stuff fell on top of me!" Rotor' voice comes from the lab, muffled. "Oh, hey! Found the star-post!" A few moments later, he and Sally come back, star-posts in hand. "Okay, where are we going and who all is going?"

  "The Techno Park Zone. I'm going," I answer.

  "I'm going!" Amy says, followed by Jen.

  "I'm going," Sonic says, looking to me. I want to say no, but he would just get mad at me and find a way to come anyway.

  "Fine. Four life-forms, then," I tell Rotor, who inputs the info into a tiny computer attaches to the posts. The posts start to sparkle and glow, creating a portal. I glace over at Sonic. "Get yourself killed and I will bring you back and kill you again," I tell him. 

  "I get the felling that you're trying to be protective. It's kinda ruined by you tone, you know," he responds. I roll my eyes and push him into the portal. Jen and Amy follow and I hop in last.

  "Wait, Trin!" Sally says. I glance at her, halfway into the portal. "Take Nicole. We can communicate through her." Sally hands me a small, rectangular bag.

  "Thanks, Sal," I say, then duck into the portal.

  Inside the portal, the other three (read: two) are staring at.....basically everything. It's obvious why.

  There's space all around us. Like, stars and planets space. Everything is brightly colored and bouncy. I don't see the instruments until I look at the ground.

  Apparently we have to run on them. Parts of the ground look like pianos or xylophones and areas where the ground is missing are replaced by drums. Trumpets play music from all directions- _by themselves_.

  "Oh sweet sugar free sodas," I mutter as Sonic says, "Holy burritos" and Amy whispers "Whoa". Jen stands in silence, unfazed.

  "Told you," she says. I pull out Nicole.

  "Hey, Nicole? Can you tell them we're here?" I ask. Something inside her beeps, then whirs.

  "Acknowledged," she replies. I smile and store her back in her bag.

  "Hey Amy or Jen, do one of you know where the Emerald is?" I ask. "Or you, Nicole?" Amy and Jen perform the Mystic Melody as Nicole searches for Chaos energy.

  "That way!" Jen and Amy both exclaim, pointing towards the running track. Then they both giggle. "Jinx!"

  "Affirmative. I'm getting a reading from that direction as well," Nicole confirms.

  "Then it's settled. Jen, take Amy. Amy, take Nicole. Trin, you and I can run," Sonic says, indicating each of us individually. I hand Nicole and her bag to Amy. Jen starts to fly as she lifts Amy gently. I turn towards the track, catching Sonic's eye. "Bet I can get through this before you," he dares, grinning mischievously. I roll my eyes.

  "Oh, bring it _on_ ," I reply. Then we shoot off, Amy and Jen in tow. Instantly, I feel lighter, just running. Sonic is ahead of me, but not by much. If anyone were to be watching us, they would only see two different-colored blurs, but I'm fast enough to see him normally. I instinctively fall into step with the bouncy, up-beat music. Together, we run across two platform-pianos that are across from each other. Notes play from under my feet. Sonic zooms across my path to the xylophone-platform I was just about to run on. I grin and race across to the other one, keeping up quite nicely if I do say so myself. Jen speeds up her flight to catch up to me and Amy holds out Nicole.

  "It seems as though the Emerald is at the end of the track," Nicole says. "You'll have to complete it." I glance around.

  "I'll just take a quick shortcut then," I reply, spying some floating, round platforms that lead towards the end of the track. One misjump and I could fall to my death, but hopefully that won't happen. "Yo! Sonic!" He glances over at me and I nod to the platforms. "Shortcut!" He looks at them for a moment, then nods.

  "I'll follow you then!" he calls back. I make the first jump. When I land, the platform dings, like a piano. I stumble a little from surprise, then jump to the next one. Slowly, Sonic and I make my way to the end of the track.

  As I reach the second to last platform, I hear the one behind me ding. Then Sonic shouts in surprise, causing me to turn. He's slipping off of the platform, holding on precariously. I jump back and grab his hand, trying to pull him up.

  "Did you eat rocks for breakfast or something?!?" I ask sarcastically. He rolls his eyes and tries to climb back up.

  "Why? Your head missing some?" he retorts breathlessly, then finally pulls himself back up onto the platform. I look at him for a moment as he sits trying to catch his breath. Kind of like a fish.

  "You okay?"

  Yeah.....yeah, I'm good," he says, getting up. "Let's go." This time, we're careful, making sure we both reach the last two platforms safely. We reach the track and book it to the end. The Purple Chaos Emerald shines brighter than any of the techno-craziness around it. Jen, Amy, and Nicole land beside Sonic and me. Jen picks up the Emerald gently, even though they're practically impossible to break (trust me- people have tried).

  "One down, six to go," Jen says, turning to us. She places the Emerald into the bag with Nicole.

  "I think I'll be taking that," Scourge's voice says from behind us. I duck just before someone tries to knock me to the ground.

  "Same trick won't usually cut it twice, Fiona. You two should know that by now," I say, spinning around to face the fox. She gives me a phony bewildered look.

  "Behind? But what are these then?" she asks. Then she holds up the Red and Silver Chaos Emeralds. "And if our intel is correct, that's your first one."

  "And we'll be taking it off your hands for you," Scourge adds. "So make it easier on yourselves and hand it over, alright? We wouldn't want this to get messy, now would we?"

  "Amy, contact Sally. It's time to go," I tell her. She backs out of fighting range after handing me the bag with the Chaos Emerald in it. "I believe the only one losing Chaos Emeralds today is you guys, Scourge. Back off."

  "Fine. You've chosen your fate," he replies nonchalantly. Then Fiona jumps at me again. I duck and turn to face her.

  "I told you there was going to be more of a tussle this time," Fiona says. I shrug, unconcerned.

  "I've been expecting it," I reply. "To tell you the truth, I was hoping Eggman and his 'bots would be here this time. They're a bit more of a challenge." Fiona shrieks angrily and races at me, only for me to step casually out of her way. I shoot a blast of Cyan energy at here and it catches her shoulder. The star-post portal shows up a few feet away. Both Fiona and I spot it at the same time.

  "Oh, no you don't! Your not leaving until we get that Emerald!" Fiona ducks in between me and the portal and grabs at the bag. I pull it out of her reach.

  "Oh, look at that. I'm still taller than you. Looks like you can't reach-" I break off as Scourge grabs the bag from my hand. He and Fiona move out of my way with it, leaving me free to go. I race over to the portal, where Sonic waits for me.

  "But the Chaos Emerald-" he starts. Then shouts of shock and anger come from the Destructix and the Evil Freedom Fighters. I turn to face them.

  "Oh, yeah. I forgot that I took this out," I call, holding up the Purple Emerald. "And I managed to get this while you all were busy." I hold up the Silver Emerald in my other hand. "Couldn't find the third, but what the heck. Anyway, I believe that _we_ are ahead now, so you guys better quit now. See ya!" I duck into the portal super fast. As soon as we're all back in the Prime Zone, Rotor shuts off the posts. Sonic looks at me.

  "Have I ever told you that I'm glad we aren't on opposing sides?" he asks incredulously.

  "Probably, but it's been a long time since you have. It's sweet of you though," I respond. Sonic shakes his head, probably still wondering how I pulled that off.

  "How many did we get?" Sally asks. I pull out the two Emeralds and set them on the table.

  "One by ourselves, and one from some good ol' fashioned sneaking," I respond. "Oh, and uh, you might want to get Nicole a new bag."

 "Great. Two down, five to go!" Sally announces. We all cheer.

 


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all my wonderful fans! I'm super sorry about the huge pause during Christmas and New Year's, but I'm back! Hurray! I also want to let you all know that I've finished hand-writing parts1 and2 and I'm now working on part 3 AND a side story! I also hope to do something with Bendy and Boris: The Quest for the Ink Machine, but I haven't started anything for that (yet!). Anyway, thanks for sticking with me! Enjoy Chapter 7!!!!!

  Scourge the Hedgehog sat in an empty room, waiting for a certain contact to, well, contact him.

  He had already lost an Emerald.  _Two_ Emeralds, if we're getting technical. He couldn't belive it when he saw the empty bag, Trinity with two Emeralds, the single Emerald that she didn't find. She had become a nuisance, a bother.

  Darn it, she was still so beautiful.

  Scourge loved Fiona, he really did. Whenever they were together, he could feel it. The match, the perfect fit of the two of them.

  But for Trin ...... man.

  He was pretty sure he never fully got over her, even when he met Fiona. He had trusted her the most out of everyone he met in the Prime Zone. The original deminsion. And she had trusted him.

  No, wait. She had trusted  _Sonic_. She belived in Sonic, confided in Sonic, so when Scourge came around, she had trusted him too.

  Because he had pretended to be Sonic.

  Why did he ever think she might have loved him?

  The communicator screen blips, and Scourge forces all thoughts of Trin and Fiona from his head to answer it.

  "Hello, Scourge."

  "Yo."

  The contact sighs. "I take it your not bringing me good news?"

  "'Fraid not, sorry. We're down one Emerald. Run-in with Sonic and the chumps."

  "Oh, boy. Okay well then- no stop- I suggest- no, I said to stop it- I suggest that- no! I said no! Hang on," the contact says, trying to stop a dark, Wisp-like thing from getting between him and the screen. Scourge snickers. "There. Now go play. And don't mess anything up! Anyway, I suggest not going after them. There's no use until the rest of the Emeralds are discovered. So, just- no, go play!- just find the other locations, okay? I'll talk later!"

  "See ya." The communicator screen goes off. Scourge waits a moment before contacting someone else. "Hey, I need a favor," he says when the preson answers.

  "You know, I'm supposed to be  _resisting_ you. We agreed," the new caller, a female hedgehog, points out.

  "Then think of this as an alliance instead of you rejoining us. I really need this, T."

  "Don't call me that. I'll think about this 'alliance' thing. What do you need?"

  "The Seven Chaos Emeralds." The caller raises an eyebrow. "Look, it's for .... someone else, okay? Not me. I just need the locations besides the Purple, Silver, and Red ones."

  "Seems like you got this. You have three."

  "I have one. The original Freedom Fighters have two. Please, for old time's sake, T!"

  "I said don't call me that. Fine, I'll help. But I'll need to install a zonal range on my old Chaos tracker so it'll take some time, okay?"

  "Thanks! You're the best Trinity!"

  The Moebuis cyan hedgehog brushes her frontal spikes- tipped with black- out of her face. She rolles her eyes behind her glasses. "I said don't call me that. It's Circuit now. And save the flattery. You don't mean it and I already said I would help, idiot. Stop being a suck-up."

  "See you later," Scourge says, ignoring Circuit's attitude. He ends the call.

   _Time to fight fire with fire_ , he thinks.

* * *

 

  "Okay, Freedom Fighters. Tails finished the updates to the Chaos Tracker we used during the world-break crisis. We have a new lead on an Emerald in the Pumpkin Hill Zone. We  _also_ have found an interfering wavelength heading through our deminsion to the Destructix and Evil Freedom Fighter base," Sally explains. "So we need two teams to find the Emerald and track the wavelength's direct origin. Bunnie, Antione, Silvian, you three will meet with the Chaotix in Pumpkin Hill Zone to find the Emerald. Sonic, Trin, Sandy, I want you to take Nicole and find the origin of the wavelength."

  "Do you know where it starts?" Sandelia- Sandy- asks. Nicole, now in living form at the moment, shakes her head.

  "I can't tell exactly where it's coming from. I think it's supposed to scramble our data-base before it reaches Scourge," Nicole repiles.

  "All right, first stop, Pumpkin Hill Zone!" Rotor says, activating the star plosts. Bunnie, 'Twan, and Silvian hop through, then Rotor closes it and opens one to Moebuis. Nicole, who insists on being real-life for this mission, goes first. Sandy folows, then Sonic, and finally me. As soon as the portal closes, Nicole follows her readings in one direction.

  "This way, she says, half to herself. We follow her lead to a warehouse that's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. The four of us glance at each other, then Sonic knocks on the door. The door opens and I end up looking...

             ...... straight into my own eyes.

  

* * *

 

  Meanwhile, Antion, Bunnie, and Silvian were meeting with the Chaotix members: Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Charmy Bee.

  "Yo. Heard that Sally needed us to help with the search for Chaos Emeralds for you guys," Vector says.

  "Yes. Do you know where it is?" Silvian asks. Espio shakes his head.

  "Nope!" Charmy replies cheerfully. "We're waiting on Knuckles to show up! He can tell us where it is!" Then a shout comes from a different 'island' in the abyss.

  "Oh mah! That sounds like Knuckles!" Bunnie exclaims. Antoine nods.

  "Charmy! Sling rings!" Vector shouts. Charmy pulls three rings from a pocket on his jacket and hands them to Vector and Espio. Anton pulls out his Extreme Board while Bunnie starts to fly with her robotisized feet. Silvian uses his Silver Chaos powers to teleport while the others follow. Knuckles hangs off the edge of the 'island', trying not to let go. 

  "The Emerald! Get the Emerald!' the red echidna shouts to Antione when he tries to help him up.

  "It's a bit late for that," someone says. They all turn to see the Hooligans team: Nack the Weasel, Bark the Polar Bear, and Bean the Duck. Nack grins as he says, "Save your friend and I get the Emerald. But get the Emerald and lose your friend! But hurry up! I'm getting bored and poor Chuckles doesn't have much time!"

* * *

 

  "Whoa!" I shout, jumping back. The other me just crosses her arms and leans against the door frame.

  "I know.  _Such_ deja vu, huh," she says sarcastically. She looks like me, but not. Same long and wavy cyan blue spikes, but tipped with black and pulled up in a messy bun. Same amber eyes, but behind black framed glasses. She gives off a snarky personality. "Why are you here?"

  "You're sending off the wavelength with the Chaos Emerald information!" Sandy accuses. The other me rolls her eyes.

  "Yeah? What're you gonna do about it? It's my tech," she snarks. A smaller figure flies up from behind her. It looks like a different Tails, with the same yellow fur and twin tails except her wears goggles and black gloves (come to think of it, the other me has black gloves, too).

  "Circuit! Circuit, there's a problem!" he announces, then stops and stands still when he sees me, Sonic, Sandy, and Nicole. I wave sheepishly. Circuit (is that really my name here?  _Seriously_ _?_ ) looks back at the Moebius Tails.

  "They're nobody, Miles. In fact, they were _just leaving_ ," she says, shooting me a glare. Okay so Tails hasn't changed his name yet here. "What's up?" Miles hold up a small screen.

  "The Chaos tracker is emitting less and less of a signal!" he explains. "I don't know what happened! It was just fine and I think it found another Emerald, and then all of the signals just faded!" Circuit marches inside, then back outside and points to us.

  "You. In. Now," she orders. "And no words are to be spoken of this, understood?" We all nod. "Good."

  Inside the warehouse, computers and equipment whirs and bleeps. People and robots dash to and fro, checking on computers and toggling switches. All of the life that is missing outside is in here, bustling and keeping on their toes. We follow Circuit and Miles to a large screen that matches the Chaos tracker back at Freedom HQ. This one is silent, however, ocassionally picking up and dropping a signal. Circuit sits in a chair in front of the the screen.

  "Strange. It was just fine earlier," she mutters, pressing some buttons.

  "It seems as though a fuse blew," Nicole says, scanning the tracker. "It might have been too much work for it to read all the zones for energy, transport all the energy to Scourge,  _and_ attempt to interfere with our database at the same time." Suddenly, Nicole gasps. "You have to shut it down! If you don't, the mainframe will fry and it could _explode_ _!_ _"_  

* * *

  "Nack! You betta get  _outta_ here, suh That Emerald is ours!" Bunnie warns, switching her robotic hand to her pulse cannon. Antione, by her side, draws his sword.

  " _Oui_ _!_ I believe you would not like it if I put zees blade to use!" he adds, swinging the sword. The Chaotix back them up, Espio with his ninja stars and Vector slamming his fist into his other hand. Charmy, being Charmy, makes a face. Silvian rolls his eyes.

  "Oh, I think we can handle you," Nack replies. "Bean?" The green duck snaps his fingers and the plateu erupts into shakes and explosions. Knuckles shouts as he loses his grip with one of his hands.

  "It would be really nice if you got to the saving part of this mission!" he yells, trying to grab onto the edge again.

  "Duly noted," Silvian mutters, then teleports to the jack-o-lantern glowing with magical green light. He reaches inside and grabs the Green Chaos Emerald, pulling it out.

  "Alright, you've decided the-" Nack starts, but is cut off by Knuckles, who Kayoes him.

  "Yeah, while you were paying attention to the rabbit, the others helped me up. That's for knocking me off the cliff, you jerk," Knuckles says.

  "Bean! Explode the last of those darn bombs so we can get that Emerald and get outta here!" Nack exclaims. Bean quickly snaps his fingers again as Nack climbs back in the hover between Bean and Bark. The plateu shakes and crumbles.

  "Quick! Everyone tuh that portal!" Bunnie shouts over the noise, pointing to the a faintly glowing portal. They all race towards it, hopping in just as the plateu crumbles into nothing.

  "Darn you Freedom Fighters!" Nack calls as the portal closes. Charmy sticks his head back through.

  "And Chaotix!" Charmy adds. Then Vector grabs the little bee and pulls him back through and the portal closes.

  "Thank you for your help, Chaotix," Sally says. Silvian hands Sally the Green Emerald. "The Freedom Fighters owe you one."

  "No biggie, princess. We'll let you know if we have any favors for you. See ya," Vector says, activating a warp ring. The Chaotix step through, leaving behind the Freedom Fighters. Bunnie looks around, confused.

  "Where's Sonic an' the others? Ah thought they'd be back by now," Bunnie says. Sally shakes her head.

  "Not yet. But whatever they're doing, they need to hurry up!"

* * *

 

  "Okay, hang on," Circuit says, sliding under the dashboard of the tracker and being surprisingly calm in tis situation.

  "How do you know this?" Miles asks. 

  "I scanned the tracker. I'm an A.I., Tails. I mean, Miles. Sorry," Nicole replies. Miles stands in awe. I snicker. He really is like Tails.

  "It looks like someone messed with the wiring in here," Circuit calls. "Miles, go get me a pair of wire cutters." Miles ducks over to another group of people with tools.

  "Here you go," he says, handing them to her. She stays under for a few moments, fixing and rearranging things, then gets back up.

  "The good news is that its fixed. The bad news is that it doesn't work anymore," Circuit says. "I still don't know who-" She looks over at Miles, who looks at the floor guiltily. "Miles! We talked about this!"

  "But you said-"

  "I said that we would help Scourge by giving him intel on the Chaos Emeralds. Not by attempting sabotage and overloading the tracker!"

  "Sorry," Miles mumbles. Nicole touches his shoulder gently and he looks up, surprised. "You can touch things?" Nicole nods. "Fascinating! Ho does it work?" he asks.

  "Well, the system uses the energy from power rings to give me a corporeal form," she answers. "So, basically, it's magic." She holds up her hand-held device and Miles reaches for it. Then he stops.

  "M-may I?" he asks politely. Nicole nods and he takes to hand-held gently, studying it. "Wow! All of this tech is so different, I've never seen it before!"

  "Okay, Miles. Give it back," Circuit says, laughing. She looks over at me. "Is he like this in your dimension?"

  "Almost exactly," I reply.

  "So what did you come here for again?"

  "To see where the Chaos tracker signal was coming from and report back."

  "Ah. And it was coming from me..."

  "Which lead us here..."

  "For all the strange deja vu, yes. Now please stop. You're giving me a headache," Sonic finishes. We both make faces at him. "Geez. Please, please stop. It's so confusing, like looking at identical twins."

  "Except my hair isn't dyed," I say.

  "And I'm a tech genius," Circuit adds.

  "And I'm a fighter."

  "And I work with Miles more than you do."

  "Tails, actually. And I'm magic," I say. But instead of continuing, Circuit just looks at me. "Um, Tails is Miles in our dimension," I explain. Circuit shakes her head.

  "No, no. I know that. It's just that I'm magic, too," she tells me. She lifts a hand and shoots a cyan blast - like my blasts - out an open window. "I just don't usually use it." She turns back to see me and Sonic gaping at her.

  "O-okay," I say. "Okay, that...is weird. Really, really weird." Sonic just puts a hand on his head, closes his eyes, and sighs.

  "We should get going," he says after a while. I look at him, worried, then look back at Circuit.

  "Well, bye, I guess," I tell her. She gives me a smile - one of my smiles - and waves. Man, it really is weird. "Come on, Nicole, Sandy! Time to go!"

  "Coming!" They walk over, then Nicole hands her hand-held to me. "The ring's energy is almost depleted. I have contacted Sally and she is opening the portal now," she explains. It opens behind her and we all head towards it. Circuit catches my arm.

  "Come visit, okay?" she asks, and for a moment I really can see myself in her. I smile.

  "Of course, Circuit," I say. She releases my arm and waves. I wave back and step through the portal. The original Freedom Fighters are waiting when I arrive.

  "Who was it?" Sally asks. I smile cryptically.

  "Me. The other me," I answer, earning a look of confusion. "You'll get it when you think about it hard enough." Tails looks at me.

  "The Chaos tracker is down. It doesn't work anymore," he says bluntly. "We'll have to stick to the Mystic Melody for now."

  "Well then, you two find us an Emerald," Sonic says, pointing to Amy and Jen.


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I might not be able to post every day because of State Testing this week, but I promise you all that I'll type when I can! Enjoy the chapter!

  Scourge sighs in anger, staring down the machine in front of him. The Chaos tracker he uses went down earlier, and Scourge can't get it to work. Hence the angry sigh.

  "For all the worst times..." he mutters, calling up Circuit. "Where's the intel on the Chaos Emeralds that you were giving us? Our Chaos tracker went down and it refuses to respond."

  "Why hello, Scourge, old pal and grand chump. You never say hi when you call anymore, you know," she responds. Scourge glares at her. "Our tracker is down too. Mainly because _someone_ ," she explains, looking over at Miles pointedly,"couldn't leave stuff alone. So your down by two trackers."

  "And an Emerald. Man," he says, looking away from the screen for a moment. "Okay, I'll figure something out. Try and fix the tracker."

  "Please?"

  Long, drawn-out sigh. "Fine. Please."

  "Will do, bud. See ya." Circuit ends the comm. Scourge racks his brain, trying to think of a plan. When he looks back up at the screen, an anonymous comm asks if he wants to accept it. He does.

  "Scourge!"

  "Wah!" Scourge jerks back from the screen. "Oh. 'Sup, Eggman?"

  "Please tell me your tracker is working. None of my tech is reading the energy anymore," Eggman says.

  "No can do, Doc. Both of ours are down too."

  "Darn it. And darn you, with your stupid, Sonic-like though evil face."

  "Hey!"

  "Quiet! Okay, here's the plan. I need you to get either Amy Rose or Jennika the Butterfly. They know the Mystic Melody technique I need to find these blasted Emeralds."

  "Alrighty, Doc. Will do," Scourge says, then ends the comm. "Fiona!" The brown fox walks into the room.

  "What's up?" she asks. Scourge smiles at her.

  "Gather everyone. We have a kidnapping to conduct."

* * *

  "Sooo.... we're meeting someone here?" I ask. We're in Aptos, where Sally told me, Tails, Jen and Sonic to go. Tails nods in response to my question. Sonic just looks at me and then looks away. Like he's ... upset (very unusual for him, I assure you). _Did I do something?_ I wonder. Tails starts to wander. "Where are you going, Tails?"

  "Hmm? Oh, Rotor asked me to pick up some supplies and stuff. Is that okay?" he asks.

  "Sure, but take Jen with you," I respond, looking from him to Jen, who seems a little wonderstruck as she stares at the town. "Jen? Is that okay?"

  "What? Oh. Sorry, I didn't hear. It's been so long since I've been here, everything has changed. Well, not everything. But most of it," Jen explains, embarrassed.

  "It's okay. I asked if you could go with Tails to get some supplies for Rotor, alright?" I repeat. She nods and follows Tails into the streets, trying to take in everything. I giggle and turn to Sonic, who is standing on an outlook over the sea. "Hey - " I start when I join him, but he cuts me off.

  "Do you remember," he reminices, "when we had to come here during the world-break crisis?"

  "Oh yeah. We started out here and had to come back to find out where the Sun and Moon keys were," I remember. "I wonder where the keys are now..."

  "Hopefully we won't need to know," he says quietly. Ilook over at him. He looks out over the water, seeming calmexcept for his eyes. His vibrant green eyes that reflect emotions that I can't name. "The sun is setting."

  "Are you afraid of turning into a were-hog again?" I joke. Instead of laughing or shooting me one of his smiles, he just glances over at me. "Hey, what's wrong?"

  "I honestly don't know."

  "Is it something about me?"

  "Yes. No. I don't know."

  "Are you mad at me?" You seemed mad earlier."

  "No, I was - still am - confused." He closes his eyes. "Two Trinitys. Who would have thought?"

  "That's what this is about? That there are two of me?"

  "Trin, look -"

  "No! There are two of you - no, like, ten of you - andyou're not bothered by it at all. But it's the end of the world if there's more than one Trinity! Oh, no what will we do?"

  "Trin, it's not like that. Stop -"

  "No! I can't believe you! There are two Tailses and  _that_ doesn't seem to bother you. There's two of practically everyone, and the only one that bothers you is me! How does that -"

  "Trin, stop, please!" he shouts. I look over at him. He's got tears in his eyes.

  Sonic never cries.

  I've only ever seen him cry once. When we were little. When Dad...

  "Trin?" Sonic's voice sounds far away, even though he's right next to me.

   _"I love you, Sweet T. That won't change."_

   I can't breathe. Everything is faded and blurry,and someone is calling me...  

   _"You're special, like me. And we will always be that way, okay? Always."_

                                ...and it's so far away.

  Everything goes dark and silent.

* * *

_It was like any other day for 6-year-old Trinity. Wake up, go outside,, practice her skils. She had learned a lot since the tree-climbing incident earlier that year._

_Without little Trin's knowledge, cars began tp arrive. Lots of them._

_That was the first sign._

_Later that morning, Trin's mother had called her in early. "Family emergency," she had said._

_That was the second sign._

_The third sign was what gave her knowledge of the horrible, heart-shattering event that was happening. Many people had gathered around her father's bed, amoung them her family and Dr. Quack. Trin could remember the dejected look on the doctor's face when he whispered to her mom. The flow of tears down her mother's face afterward. Then..._

Trinity. _Trin's father's weak voice called to her. She approached the bed, hyperaware of everyone staring at her. She was afraid of what she would find there. But when she saw her father, Trinity could only see the hedgehog she had grown up calling_ Daddy. _She saw her dad's face, tired, but still the same._

Daddy. Daddy!  _Trinity's childish whimpers were quiet and distressed. Her father touched the underside of her chin, lifting her head gently to look at him._

Liten, Trinity _, he said._ You are special, like me. We have a special power. And we will always be that way, okay? Always. I need you to use it for good while I'm gone.  _Trin's tears started to fall as her father reached to the back of his neck and undid the clasp of the chain he always wore, made of silvery-blue metal with a seven-pointed star on it. He put it around Trinity's neck._ Wear that, okay? Wear it and remember me and the happy times.

   _Her father closed his eyes and Trin held his hand._ I love you, Sweet T,  _he told Trinity, using his nickname for his beloved daughter._ That won't change.  _Then he grew still._

_Trin sat for a moment in stunned silence. Her mother touched her shoulder and she got up and ran. Out of the room, the house, the yard. She ran to a large tree where she sat and waited for the tears to come._

_After a while, someone ran up to her: a blue hedgehog, 8-year-old Sonic to be exact._ What're you doing out here, Trin? _the little hedgehog asked, unaware that the other hedgehog's life had just been broken apart. Trinity sniffed, then finally started to cry._ Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean...  _He trailed off, wondering what he did._

W-whenever I...felt lonely, _Trinity said between sobs,_ D-daddy would come...and give me a hug. B-b-but he's...he's...  _Then she started to cry again. Sonic, despite being a child, understood completely. His eyes widened, then teared up and he began to cry too._

T-that's not fair!  _he exclaimed._ I liked your dad! He didn't do anything wrong and nor did we! I don't think...  _Trin cried harder. Sonic, feeling lost and sad, hugged Trin._ I-i'll hug you,  _he said._ I'll make sure to be your friend,especially when your lonely.

   _Tinity sniffed and looked at Sonic._ For the rest of our lives? _she asked._ We'll be friends even when we're grown up and old?  _Sonic smiled comfortingly._

Yeah,  _he replied._ Forever.  _And two years passed as Trinity tried to learn how to cope without her father, who had been her guiding light. But just as she was starting to feel her life come back together..._

_It fell apart again as her world was taken over too._

* * *

  Sonic huffes in exasperation as he tries to wake up Trinity, who panicked and passed out.

  "For the love of chili dogs, Trin, I need you to wake up!" He tries to remember what to do in this situation, but only remembers to cheak her pulse.  _Man, I should have listened to Dr.Quack's lectures,_ he thinks. Then Tails flies up "Tails!"

  "Sonic, Jen is - Trin?" Tails says, landing beside her limp body. Sonic looks away, feeling guilty. "What happened?"

  "We had an arguement and...she kind of passed out." Then Sonic looks around. "Hey, where's Jen and the supplies?"

  "Jen got kidnapped! That's who wanted to meet us!" Tails exclaims. "Wait, why did she pass out?"

  "Let's just get back to Freedom HQ. We'll figure out what to do there," Sonic resolves, picking up Trin. "Sally might have a plan."


	10. Chapter 9

  Doctor Eggman is not usually happy, especially with the turn of events that occurred in that blasted Techno-spaceo Whatever-it-was Zone.

  But today, Eggman is happy. Very happy.

  "Alright, alright. Careful with the butterfly, please. I've heard they have dreadfully delicate wings," Eggman orders gleefully as his swat-bots carry in a what-seems-like teenage butterfly Mobian. Eggman can see past it though. He knows that the butterfly cold be hundreds, maybe even thousands of years old.

  But this isn't a science project.

  "Here you go, one captured Mobian who can perform the Mystic Melody," Scourge announces, also seeming glad with the scenario. Eggman still hates that he resembles Sonic, but reminds himself that this particular Sonic is evil.

  "Thank you, Scourge. With this one, we should find Chaos Emeralds much faster, yes?" Eggman turns to his armies of robots, all designed by him. "We're back in business, baby!" Cheers, both robotic and normal, erupt through the room.

* * *

  "Oh my gosh!" Amy says as she enters the room where Trinity sleeps. "Tails said that Jen was gone and Trin was unconscious, but I didn't imagine this! Oh, Sonic, I'm so sorry!" Sonic looks at Amy.

  "It's fine, Amy. Really. Dr. Quack said that she should be fine by tomorrow. It's really nothing," he explains gently. Amy, who still looks horrified, nods.

  "I-I hope so. Sally's working out a plan now, but she wants to wait until Trin is okay." She walks over and gently hugs Trin as best as she can. Trinity doesn't stir, except to breathe. "Please be okay, Trin. We still need you." Amy leaves, still looking uneasy.

  Sonic turns his attention back to the unconscious hedgehog. He places one of his hands in hers. _Please, Trin, wherever you might be in your head, come back._

* * *

  When I wake up, I'm in some room. I can tell it's not mine. Something at the corner of my vision catches my attention and I turn towards it. Or, should I say, him.

  Sonic sits in a chair beside me, asleep. I want to wake him up, but as I raise my hand, I raise one of his too. He's holding my hand loosely. Instead, I reach over with my other hand and touch his shoulder, which startles him awake. "Hi," I say.

  "Trinity!" he exclaims. "Trin, you were out for a full day! You scared me!" He pulls me into a hug.

  "What happened?" I ask.

  "You panicked! We wee in the middle of a fight and you collapsed," he explains. "You told me you were done with this stuff, Trin!"

  "I thought I was," I mumble, embarrassed. "But you almost never cry." He laughs a little.

  "No, I guess I don't. I don't usually let things bother me that much." He leans his head back and closes his eyes, then sighs. "Promise me you won't do that again." The way he says it makes me believe that I could promise that.

  Because I care.

  Because I don't want him to hurt.

  Because ...

  So I nod. Of course. "I can't actually make that promise, but I'll try." He smiles, finally, and my heart surges. Part of me is hyper-aware of the situation, and of how close he is.  _Stop it_ , I think.  _He's your best friend_. But the thought sticks in my head, refusing to leave. I notice him looking at me, seeming so worried and confused and glad that I'm okay. I look away, at my hands.

  When I look back at him, I'm surprised to see that he's close enough to kiss me.

  I'm even more surprised when he does.

  "What was that?" I ask, pulling away fast. He looks as startled as I feel.

  "I don't know! I just did it! I wasn't thinking!" he exclaims. For a moment we sit in silence, my face heating up.

  "There are so many ways you could have done that better," i mumble after a while. We look back at each other.

  "Do...," he starts quietly, "do you think I could try again?" His face is red. I consider it.

  "Well, I  _do_ believe in second chances," I respond. "But first..." I scrub my hand across his forehead. He looks at me like I'm insane (but then again, I probably am).

  "Uh, what are you doing?"

  "I'm scrubbing away the memory. If you don't fail this like the other one, I want to remember it as the first."

  "Okay. No pressure there. At all."

  "Absolutely none," I say, grinning. Then I shake my head and stop smiling. "Okay. Try again." This time, he hesitates. Then he leans over and gently kisses me again. At first he's tense, as if he's unsure if this is okay. He relaxes after a moment when he realizes that I'm not going to shove him away again and that I'm okay with this. Honestly, I'm the clueless one here. I've only ever been kissed once before (let's  _not_ talk about that), so I have no idea as to what I'm supposed to do.

  The kiss is sweet though, and full of unknown promises. It makes me wonder how long he's wanted this.

  I wonder how long  _I've_ wanted it.

  When we break, I'm breathless and starstruck. "Whoa," I breathe.

  "So did I pass?"

  "Oh, yeah. Definitely."

  "Yes," he whispers, slightly punching one fist in the air. I laugh. "Oh. I forgot that Sally wanted to explain her plan once you were up."

  "Ah. Too busy planning this whole thing?"

  "Shut up. This was so unplanned and you know it. Come on and get up." I laugh again and let him help me to my feet. We head towards the main room together, but we don't let on anything about what just happened.

  "Trinity! You're okay!" Amy immediately hugs me as soon as i walk in. Typical Amy.

  "Good to have you back, Trin," Sally says. "Now that everyone is accounted for, let's get to the task at hand: what we should do. As of this moment we have three Chaos Emeralds and are down by an asset."

  "Wait, an asset?" I look around. "Where's Jen?" Sonic and Tails look at each other.

  "Well, uh, you see, ...um," Tails stutters. He looks to Sonic for help.

  "She got kidnapped, Trin. Tails told me after you passed out," Sonic explains. I stare at him in stunned silence, then look at the table.

  "Oh," I manage to say.

  "I've located an Emerald, well Amy has anyway, but we can't find Jen. So we go after the Emerald first, okay guys?" Sally says. "i want to send Bunnie, Tails,and Sonic."

  "Hang on, what about me or Amy?" I ask.

  "Amy is needed here. Maybe she can find Jen with the Mystic Melody. As for you, you just woke up from passing out," Sally explains.

  "His fault," I mutter, pointing to Sonic.

  "Trinity," Sally warns.

  "Okay, okay. Fine, let them leave without me," I give in. Sally rolls her eyes. Under the table, Sonic takes my fist, which is shaking. I calm down, unclenching my fist. I look over at him and mouth, "Come back safe, okay?" He nods and gets up, ready to leave.

* * *

  Jen wakes up with a gasp, looking around. She frowns.  _Still here_ , she thinks.  _Why can't it just be a bad dream?_

  "Hello, Jennika. How nice of you to finally wake up," Eggman says. Jen spins around to look at him. A Plexiglass wall stands between them. Jen could try to break it, but something is wrong and she can't use her powers...

  "What do you want, Eggman? I've been waking up and falling asleep for hours," Jen asks with an angry sigh.

  "Days, actually. I want you to find me the other three Chaos Emeralds using your Mystic Melody," Eggman replies. Jen scoffs.

  "Like I'd help you!"

  "Oh, you will either way. I'm just giving you the chance to do it willingly."

  "There's no way you can force me to do anything!"

  "The Chaos Emeralds are very powerful, Jen. I have discovered a way to use that power." Eggman snaps his fingers and a sphere-shaped robot assistant hops up with the Red Emerald. "Last chance, Jennika."

  "Never!"

  "Fine." He loads the Emerald into a machine. It vibrates and hums, glowing with an intense light. The robot assistant ducks under a table. Eggman pulls his goggles over his eyes to protect them. The Emerald spins and shivers, becoming a black hole of Red Chaos Energy. It zaps through the Plexiglass and hits Jen square in the chest, then goes silent. Everything seems to become normal again.

  "Looks like it didn't work-" Jen starts, then falls to the ground, unconscious. Eggman watches as the Mystic melody begins, revealing the location of an Emerald. He smiles.

  "Thanks for the help, Jennika." He hums and sends the coordinates to his robot army and Scourge, his new ally.  _Game over, Sonic_ , he thinks.

 


	11. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I might be offline for a while because of a road trip. But I promise I'll do my best to update whenever I can! Enjoy the chapter!

  "Oh! It's cold!" Sandy exclaims. Sonic smiles. Trin managed to convince Sally to let Sandy go with them.

  "Never been to this zone before?" he asks the yellow sea-hog. She nods.

  "I've never been anywhere cold before," she adds, flinching as an icy-cold snowflake lands on her nose. Tails hands her a fleecy jacket. She takes it, brushing the water from the snowflake off of her nose. "Thanks."

  Amy had picked up a Chaos Emerald reading in the White Acropolis Peaks Zone. Snow covered mountains penetrate the gray, cloudy sky.

  "We had best get tuh gettin'. Don't wanna be out here at night," Bunnie says. Sandy looks at her questioningly. "It gets even colder and dark. Like, freeze-tuh-death cold and no-light-whatsoevah dark." Sandy shivers.

  "Correct," Nicole, in her hand-held form, agrees. "Amy says that the Emerald is on the mountain to our right. She says it is in a cave near the bottom." Tails starts brushing away snow from the mountain's base.

  "Oh for crying out loud, step it up Tails!" Sonic exclaims, then spin-dashes into the mountainside. Snow and ice crack with the impact and Sonic falls into the cave's entrance. "Ow."  _Could have done that better_ , he thinks. Then everything starts to tremble. It stops before Sonic can figure out what it is. "Uh ... I found the entrance!"

  "I think finding the exit will be much harder," Eggman's voice says from behind him. Sonic grins and turns around casually to face Eggman. "I was wondering when you would show up, rodent."

  "And I was wondering when you were going to get off your fat behind and join the party train," Sonic replies nonchalantly. Sandy, Tails, and Bunnie back him up.

  "We already have the Emerald, Sonic. And I'm in no mood to take prisoners." Crowds of robots surround Eggman. "Sorry I don't have your doppelganger and his crew with me this time. Someone had to look after the butterfly."

  "Jen!" Sandy gasps. Sonic's mood changes from casual to serious.

  "Where is she?" he asks. Eggman waves his hand.

  "Oh, she's fine. Helped me find this gem," Eggman replies flippantly. "I'd love to stay and tell you more, but I have two more Emeralds to find and a brilliant plan to carry out. I don't think I'll let you follow us out, either. Ta!" Eggman snaps his fingers and the robots swarm over the four Mobians, pinning them to the ground. the rest of the robots follow Eggman through the entrance of the cave and start shooting at the mountainside. Ice, snow, and rocks fall as everything starts to shake again.

  When the shaking and rumbling becomes so loud that it drowns out everything, the robots pinning down Sonic, Tails, Bunnie, and Sandy release them and run for the exit. They slide through just before large, snowy rocks block the opening, trapping the other four.

* * *

  I'm in my room, waiting for the others to get back when a loud static sound from the main room startles me. I race into the other room, where Sally and Rotor are listening to a wavelength. I already know who it's from.

  "Egg- _ksh_ \- blocked the  _ksh_ -it. We need some- _ksh_ to help us move th- _ksh_ rocks!" Sandy's voice is static filled but definate.

  "Okay, I'm sending a team. Just stay warm and alive, okay?" Sally responds, worried.

  "O- _ksh_! Hurry!" The wavelength is dismissed. I look at Sally as she turns around.

  "You have to send me."

  "Trin, we've been over this. I don't need you in a come or something right now," Sally says, exasperated.

  "Sally, I can use my powers to lift the rocks. Or break them. Send me and Knuckles and Rotor. We can save them!"

  "I'm right here. Please don't talk about me like I'm not," Rotor says, rolling his eyes. Sally and I glare at him. "Or do, I guess. Not part of the grand scheme of things."

  Sally sighs and sets a hand over her face. "If you go on this mission, you can't go on the next one. Deal?" I nod. "Fine. And if you end up in a coma, so help me I'll ... I don't know. Rotor, contact Knux. Tell him it's an emergency."

* * *

  "Ah wish we could do somethin' about this," Bunnie shivers.

  "M-maybe the others are on their way," Sandy says hopefully. Tails glares at the ground.

  "Yeah, to f-find our froz-zen bodies," he grumbles. Sandy's eyes widen.

  "We aren't going to die!" she exclaims, then looks at Sonic. "A-are we?" Sonic sighs, then glares at Tails.

  "No, we will  _not_ die. They said they're on their way, so they're on their way," Sonic reassures Sandy.

  "Let's hope they get here fast then," Tails replies. "Whatever you do, don't go to sleep."

* * *

   Moments later, we're racing across the snow, Rotor, Antoine, and I. Antoine insisted on coming, so Sally threw her hands up and exclaimed "Why _not_?!?" so Antoine got to go. When Amy asked, however, Sally drew the line. Oh, well.

  We find the mountain and search for the entrance frantically. _Please be okay, you four,_ I think.

* * *

  "This is the end," Tails says quietly. Sonic looks at him in surprise.

  "No. It's not the end," Sonic says defiantly. "It's not the end until I say it's the end. And I haven't said it's the end yet!" Tails looks at him sadly, then at the girls. Bunnie and Sandy fell asleep earlier, their breath now coming in almost non-existent white puffs. Tails shakes his head and lays down. "Come on, Tails. They'll come. They always come." Tails closes his eyes. Sonic feels tired too, but refuses to give in to sleep. _We need to get out of here!_ he thinks. He crawls slowly over to the rocks and pounds on them, loosening them slightly. He pushes one hard and feels someone on the other side pull it out. The barricade collapses and he falls into someone, unable to move anymore.

  _Ah, hypothermia,_ he thinks, then looks up at the person who caught him. _Trin?_

* * *

  "Trin?" Sonic whispers. "I-I can't m-move."

  "Shh! Don't try to talk. Save your energy," I tell him. Really, I want him to talk to me, to tell me what happened, but he looks so tired...

  The others come out carrying Tails, Bunnie, and Sandy. tails wakes up some, but Bunnie and Sandy stay asleep. They look like they're barely breathing. Sonic shifts, unintentionally drawing my attention back to him.

  "Sonic, the portal isn't that far from here. Can you walk?" He stands up with my help and starts to take a step but stumbles. I loop one of his arms around my shoulders and half-lead, half-drag him to the portal. As soon as we're through, Angel is there. She sits us all down and gives us blankets. When Sonic tries to protest, she gives him a glare worthy of an award. She and Rue, who works with thermal energy (think fire and lava and hot springs and you've got it), warm up the other four until they're awake enough to talk and eat (which Angel makes sure they do). I decide to head back to my room. As I pass him though, Sonic touches my arm.

  "I need to talk to you later, okay?" he whispers so the others can't hear. I nod, smiling. "Thanks for the save."

  "I'm glad you're okay. Now don't make a scene," I whisper back.

 

 


	12. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys! Sorry about how long I've been gone. I promise, updates should be a lot more frequent from now on. Enjoy the chapter!

  A while later, Sonic knocks on my door.

  "Come in," I call from my bed. He opens the door and looks inside.

  "Hey," he says. "I still can't believe that Sally let you keep that bed." I smile at him.

  "What? It makes me feel superior. And it gives me more room," I reply. He rolls his eyes and comes in.

  My bed is a loft bed, which is like a bunk bed without the bottom bunk. Instead, I keep my dresser underneath my bed, which gives me more room space. All that's left in my room though is my desk (that I almost never use) and my closet. I converted the side of my steps that lead up to my bed into a shelf for my books and music. Oh, and my keyboard, which I use for my music.

  "Could you come down? It hurts my neck to look up at you," Sonic says. I pretend to consider it.

  "Hmm. No," I respond jokingly.

  "Please?"

  "Well, since you said please..." I climb down to join him on the ground. "You know, Sally's thinking about installing beds like mine in all of the bedrooms.'

  "She is not."

  "Yeah, you're right. She's not." I laugh as he pushes me lightly. "So what's up?"

  "I know what Sally said for the next mission."

  "Yeah, I can't go because I had to go play hero for you. And yes, we lost the Blue Emerald."

  "Okay first, I knew about the Emerald. I was there. Two, that's so not fair that you can't go because you wanted to save your friends'; lives. And three, _I'm_ the hero here and don't you forget that."

  "I guess I have to settle for a sidekick role, all because you can't share the spotlight, huh?"

  "You know, recently I've started to wonder what your role is." I laugh, but when I look over at Sonic, I see what he is referring to.

  "No! No way, I am _not_ the love interest! I've been your friend for years!"

  "I never said you were."

  "But you implied it."

  "No, I didn't."

  "Yeah, you did."

  "I didn't!"

  "You did!"

  "I did not!"

  "You so did!" I grin and Sonic sighs, exasperated.

  "Fine, so what if I did?" he counters. "If it's not true, then why would it bother you?" I open my mouth to say something, then snap it shut. He's got me there. I wouldn't get bothered if I didn't believe it was true.

  "Sonic, who knew you could use your brain," I mumble. He laughs, then steps closer. I duck my head and blush.

  Then a knock comes form my door and Tails busts in.

  "Guys!" he shouts. We both glare at him.

  "Do you mind?!?" Sonic exclaims.

  "You know, when you knock, you're supposed to wait until the person tells you to come in," I add.

  "Sorry, sorry. We think we've found Jen!" he says.

  "Coming," Sonic says, running out of the room, Tails following. I just watch, felling useless. Then I get up and grab some of my music, sitting at my keyboard and playing in an attempt to forget it all.

* * *

  I'm In the main room when the mission team comes back. "Was it her?" I ask. The stormy looks on their faces tell me the answer.

  "No," Sonic replies. "Just a bunch of 'bots parading around."

  "We gave them a mash-up, though," Bunnie adds, trying to be optimistic. Her expression doesn't really match.

  "I'm sure we'll find her next time," I say. Tails shakes his head.

  "I was certain she was with them," he mumbles. Cream pats his shoulder comfortingly and her chao, Cheese, lands on his head and hugs him. Sonic sits in a chair beside me.

  "I feel like it's my fault," he whispers. I don't tell him that I feel that way too, but I think it. I take his hand instead, wanting to comfort him like Cream and Cheese are comforting Tails.

  "We'll find her. We always find a way," I whisper back. He nods.

* * *

  Jen wakes up in a foggy, endless swamp of dark red liquid that blurs her vision.

  "Hello?" she calls. Her voice echoes back to her, but no one responds. "Hey! You can't leave me here!"

  "No one's left you anywhere," a gentle female voice tells her. Jen spins around to see a figure made of light. The figure fades from color to color, each of them looking mysteriously like the colors of the Chaos Emeralds. "You, Jennika, are trapped in a magic-induced trance."

  "A...a what now?" Jen asks. "And uh, who exactly are you?" The figure smiles, or it seems to smile to Jen.

  "You are in a Chaos-induced trace. The Red Emerald energy is battling with the Blue Emerald energy inside you, causing you to be trapped in your own mind. As for me, just call me Emerald," she explains. Jen nods, still confused.

  "So I'm stuck in my head." Emerald nods. "And this is magic." Jen gestures to the red fog and liquid around her. Emerald nods again. "It looks like purple-red blood," Jen finishes with a shudder.

  "The Red energy is winning. Fight it, Jen!" Blue must win for you to live!" Emerald starts to fade. "Fight!" Then she is gone altogether, leaving Jen alone. She smiles with confidence.

  "I will."

* * *

  Scourge smiles. Everything has been going according to his plan. And Eggman still has no clue.

  "Stupid man," he mutters under his breath. If Scourge was in Eggman's place, he would have found out eons ago.

  Now, there have been set backs, yes. He's behind by five Emeralds and the trackers won't work. But he still has two emeralds to find and now has the Blue Chaos Keeper to show him where they are.

  Everything is falling in place.


	13. Chapter 12

  It's the middle of the night and I can't sleep. I just feel too energized, so I decide to go for a run.

  I run for a while, occasionally changing direction unintentionally. At some point I catch sight of my arm and see that I'm glowing softly. Then I stop.

  I drop to my knees, not out of tiredness, but force. Like some sort of mind control, I start digging. Then, I see a glimmer of cyan. I dig it out quickly, uncovering the Cyan Chaos Emerald.

  "Here? How...?" I murmur. A flash of light blinds me for a second, then I see Jen.

  Jen.

  Glowing.

  _Jen?_

  "Don't question it," she says in a voice that doesn't sound like her own. "The others are on the way. Your enemies. Hurry, take the Emerald and leave!"

  "Okay." I turn to go, then realize something. "I...I don't know how to get back," I say quietly. The Not-Jen Jen places a hand on my shoulder and I see the way to go in my mind. "Whoa." She smiles.

  "Hurry, Starrling," she says, using Jen's nickname for me. "You're butterfly friend will be fine. Now go!" I nod and run off in the direction I came. I don't have to look back to know that the other glowing butterfly is gone.

  When I reach Freedom HQ, I place the Emerald on the table in the main room, then head to my room. I collapse on my bed, tiredness pulling me into sleep.

* * *

  "Where is it?" Scourge exclaims. "It's supposed to be here! The butterfly showed that it was here!"

  "Go, evil one," a female voice says from behind him. "You won't find the Emerald here. It's true owner has already claimed it." Scourge turns to see a faintly glowing butterfly, green instead of Jen's original blue.

  "What do you mean 'it's gone'? Who is this 'true owner'?" Scourge snarls angrily. The green butterfly stays motionless, unphased by Scourge's anger.

  "You would not hurt her."

  "You wanna bet?"

  "You care about her."

  "Care about...what - Fiona doesn't have it!"

  "The other one. The one with magic."

  Scourge finally understands. "Trinity has it? But..."

  "It guided her here to find it. I helped her home," the butterfly explains. Scourge growls and kicks and the ground, then starts to walk away.

  "You're wrong," he says over his shoulder. "I don't care about Trin. And I'll get that Emerald."

  "I'll give it to you that you're determined," the green butterfly calls to him as he walks away. "But I can see through you, Scourge. I know what you feel!"

  "You know nothing," he mutters out of earshot.

* * *

  "Wow! where was it?" Cream asks the next morning, looking at the Cyan Chaos Emerald. I smile.

  "Out in the woods. I found it last night when I was running," I reply. She stares at the glowing crystal, captivated.

  "What's up?" Sonic asks as he walks in. Cream and Cheese skip and fly over to him. Cream shows him the emerald.

  "Trin found this last night! She's amazing!" Cream gushes. He looks over at me.

  "She _is_ a genius," he says. I blush and look at the table. "Where was it?"

  "Forest. Found it while running," I mutter.

  "Great. Amy found the last one," Sally says, walking in. "We're heading for Meropis." I look up at the mention of the partially underwater city that specializes in Mystic Magic. Amy learned the Mystic Melody there.

  "And we can visit Coral, too!" Amy adds, excited. Coral is the priestess that taught Amy the Mystic Melody.

  "Okay, so Amy, Sandy, Tails, Sonic, and Trin will go to retrieve the Emerald. If all goes well, we can ambush the others and get the last two Emeralds to finish fixing this mess. Go save the world, Freedom Fighters!"

* * *

  Jen concentrates, trying to ignore the magical energies that slip through her mind's grasp like silk.

  She knows that those energies are her Mystic Melody, showing the locations of the Emeralds. She can't stop it, at least not without dooming herself to a magic-induced death. At the moment, she tries to pull her magic through and filter out the Red Chaos Energy that filled her when Eggman zapped her with that strange machine. Right now, she sits in a purple liquid that's more of a swirl of red and blue than a solid color. Jen learned that the Blue and Red Energy do not mix when she started this task.

  _Whatever you do, Freedom Fighters,_ she thinks as she pulls magic up through the deadly red, _be careful!_

* * *

  We meet up with Razor, Pearly, and Coral in Meropis and tell them about our search for the Emeralds.

  "I thought I'd been finding a strange energy around here," Coral says when we're finished. her angel chao, Aquarius, flits around. 'It's nice to know that my magic's not off."

  "It never was, Coral. Don't worry about what happened last time," Amy says. Coral smiles and nods.

  "So, speaking of the Emerald," Tails interjects, changing the subject, "do you know where it is?"

  "No, sorry," Coral replies as Sandy says, "Yes." We all look over at her.

  "What did you say, Sandy?" I ask. She looks at us.

  "I can kind of feel it. The Emerald, that is. I know where we have to go," she explains.

  "Well, then we follow the sea-hog," Sonic says. "About those air charms..."

  "Hang on," Pearly replies, hopping up and running out of the room. She comes back a few moments later with enough air charms for all of us. Sandy declines hers.

  "Gills," she says, pointing to her neck. "I'm part fish." Pearly nods.

  "Thanks for helping us, you three," I say. "How can we help you?"

  "You already have! Don't worry about it, it's nothing," Razor answers. _His_ chao (I'm pretty sure it's a demon-chao), Crusher, races around and occasionally chases Aquarius.

  Sandy leads the other four of us down to the water. "In there," she murmurs, half to herself. I look over4 at Sonic, who used to be afraid of water. I know that he still is, but we've done so much adventuring that it's mild. he just looks determined.

  When we dive under the water, the air charms work immediately and allow us to breathe. I catch a glimpse of Sandy, who is changing, morphing into something else. Her legs become a tail that resembles those of fairytale mermaids. Her hands grow more webbed and I notice a fin on her back. "Whoa," I say, swimming closer. "That was so cool!"

  "More like weird, but I guess cool could work," she replies, but smiles anyway, unable to contain her happiness. Sonic and Tails swim up with Amy in tow.

  "That is epic," Sonic comments. Tails and Amy nod and Sandy beams even more. Then she shakes her had and grows serious again.

  "I can't tell exactly where the Emerald is, so I think we should split up and fan out. It should be close by," she explains. We follow, but I catch Sandy's arm before we split.

  "Promise me you'll keep him safe," I say, motioning to Sonic. She nods.

  "Of course," she replies. I release her arm and we go in separate directions.

* * *

  Sandy didn't understand why Trinity made her make that promise. She knew that they had been friends for over 10 years and that even though they wouldn't admit it, they _do_ have a thing for each other. They actually hid it pretty well, though.

  Sandy follows her instincts, the soft pull and increase of energy that comes as she gets closer. _Just keep moving,_ she tells herself silently. _Almost there._

* * *

  Amy swims around, not really knowing what to do. She probably could do the Mystic Melody underwater, but she wants to conserve air on her air charm so that it doesn't run out. Because if it does, then it's no big deal, really. She'd just _die,_ that's all.

  _But what if I_ do _find it?_ she thinks. _Then everyone will cheer and say that I'm so smart and Sonic will tell me that I'm an absolute genius and he's always thought that I'm pretty and-_

  Then she stops and shakes her head. _Focus, Amy!_ she thinks. _Think about finding the Emerald first,_ then _worry about love interests!_ She looks around, digging up silt and peering between rocks. "Well, I'm not finding it anytime soon, apparently," she mutters, then resumes her search.

* * *

  Tails searches through coral reefs that line the ocean floor, humming to himself. He catches sight of his air charm, floating around his neck, and stops abruptly.

  It's almost empty.

  _Now?_ he thinks, looking around, trying to catch a glimpse, a possible shimmer from the Emerald. No such luck. _I should have enough air to get to the surface if I go now._ Tails tries to come up with another solution, but fails. _I'll ... just have to get another air charm and come back._ He heads reluctantly for the surface, promising himself that he _will_ come back down.

* * *

  Amy sees tails as he swims for the surface. _What is he doing?_ Then she remembers her air charm and checks it.

  Almost empty.

  Sighing, she decides to follow Tails. After all, drowning doesn't seem like a pleasant death.

* * *

  I can tell that it's close. my innate power isn't as strong on the Yellow Emerald as Sandy's is, but I can still _feel_ its power thrumming in my head.

  As I turn, though, I see an aquatic robot army heading towards us. "Sonic!" I call. "Sandy! Eggman's comi-" I break off as my air charm runs out. Quickly, I swim for the surface, miraculously managing to hold my breath that long.

* * *

  "Sandy1 Eggman's comin-" Sandy hears the call and turns to see Trin, holding her breath and swimming for the surface. _Sonic!_ she thinks in panic. She swims quickly towards him.

  "Sonic, Eggman's here. Go to the surface; I'll be right behind you with the Emerald, okay?" He nods, his air charm out, and starts swimming quickly. Sandy turns to find her power source. "This one's _mine_ , Egg-idiot," she mutters.

* * *

  Sonic starts to swim after Sandy's warning, but something yanks his foot back. He feels a twinge of his old fear and turns to see what it is.

  A tendril of seaweed is tangled around his leg, holding him tightly. He reaches out and tries to untangle it. Black dots swim across his vision and slowly grow larger.

  _Oh for the love of chili dogs, let go!_ He pulls harder, hoping it will snap but only succeeds in making it tighter. "Argh!" he exclaims in a burst of bubbles. Then he sees Sandy.

  Sandy pulls a bubble up around them and Sonic sighs in relief, able to breathe again. "Sandy, we still have to find the last Emerald - _your_ Emerald!"

  "Done and done," she says. "Let me help!"

  "No! If you do, Eggman will catch you and we'll lose the Emerald!"

  "But I promised Trinity that I would keep you safe!" At that, Sonic doesn't have an answer. Of course Trin would make Sandy promise that. Obviously she would make Sandy promise something that she herself would do without a thought. Of course.

  "Hey. Tell her you did your best," Sonic replies softly, giving Sandy a reassuring smile. Sandy nods and, after a moment's hesitation, starts to swim back to the surface, leaving him behind. Sonic takes a deep breath in and holds it just before the bubble pops. then the evil idiot himself arrives.

 "Sonic! Alone, trapped underwater, and slowly running out of time! What a lovely surprise!" Eggman says. Sonic glares at him.

  _Seriously, dude? I don't need you making things worse, too_ , Sonic thinks, wishing he had telepathy like Silver. Suddenly, rocks and large coral structures start to crumble as the aqua-bots shoot at them.

  "Such a shame that you'll most likely be crushed before you can escape. I'm looking for the final Chaos Emerald. Have you, per chance, managed to see it?" Sonic narrows his eyes. "No? Oh, well. Goodbye, Sonic. Until we meet again. Oh wait, we won't." Eggman takes off for the surface, laughing like the maniac he is. Sonic resumes pulling of the seaweed, then grabs a sharp rock and slices through it.

  _Free!_ he thinks, just as a large rock slams into his head and he falls, unconscious.


	14. Chapter 13

  "You said you would keep him safe! You promised, Sandy!" I shout. Sandy and I had swam down to help Sonic after I got another air charm and found him unconscious. We brought him up quickly.

  "I know, but he told me to leave before Eggman came!" Sandy replies. I shake my head. It's exactly like him, trying to save the world before himself. Then he starts coughing and wakes up.

  "Ah, my head," he mutters, then looks up at us. 'What happened?" Sandy and I shrug. "I remember Eggman ... and being stuck ... and then I got free and I think a rock hit me. Do we have the Emerald?" Sandy holds it up.

  "Sally sent a team to get the other two Emeralds and Jen. The mission was successful," Sandy replies bluntly. Something is wrong.

  "But...?" I venture. She sighs.

  "But Jen's in some sort of coma. We can't fix it. And Rue says that the Red Emerald is ... unstable. We don't know what happened," she says. Sonic coughs again.

  "Than let's get the other two. We wouldn't want to miss the main event," he replies.

* * *

  "So you have no Emeralds and the butterfly is gone," Scourge's contact says. Enraged - no, _livid_ \- at his defeat, Scourge nods. The contact laughs. "You didn't think I had a plan for this?"

  "What?"

  "I know the Freedom Fighters, Scourge. And the Chaotix. I knew they would get all of the Emeralds sooner or later, so I naturally planned ahead."

  "And what is said plan?"

  "Gather all of Eggman's troops. Now that he has control of the G.U.N., you should have plenty of Egg-soldiers. Combine them with your fighting allies and the Freedom Fighters stand no chance. Even if some of them manage to go Super."

  "And what about you?"

  "Oh, Scourge. I wouldn't miss it for the world. Does that fat maniac know yet?"

  "He has absolutely no clue, that idiot."

  "Good. Then I'll meet you on Angel island. We'll finish this once and for all."

  "Can't wait. See ya then." Scourge finishes, then calls up Circuit. "Hey."

  "Oh! What's up?"

  "I need you and your friends to meet me and Eggman at Angel Island in the Prime Zone. We're going to finish things."

  "What ... what are we finishing?" Is it just Scourge or does she seem nervous about something?

  "This whole blasted fight, Circuit. The reason we teamed up in the first place."

  "Scourge, I ... I _can't_."

  "Why not?" Scourge already knows the answer. Circuit just confirms it.

  "I ... I met Trin. The other me. And ... I just can't fight her, Scourge. It's like fighting myself. Quite literally, mind you."

  "You met ... when was this?!?"

  "When the tracker over here stopped working. She came over with three other Freedom Fighters and it broke while - just before - they were here."

  "And you ... _befriended_ her?!?"

  "Hey, pal, I know that you aren't friends with your double, but that doesn't mean that I can't be friends with mine. Besides, you can't fight her either. You care too much."

  "Why does everyone keep _saying_ that! I don't care! I didn't then, I don't now, and I never will!"

  "Tell yourself whatever you want, bud. I see through you."

  "If I had a dollar for every time I heard _that_.

  "If _I_ had a dollar for every time you said something and proved yourself wrong, I'd be able to buy Eggman's bot-army off of him."

  "Fine. _Don't_ come. I don't care. Clearly your just like them, a bunch of goody-two-shoes. So don't help a pal out. I can do this myself." Scourge ends the comm and huffs. She's wrong. _They're_ wrong. _Everyone_ is wrong.

  He doesn't care.

  He can - _will_ \- do this.

* * *

   Circuit leans back in her computer chair, fed up with her old friend's attitude. _He's such a pathetic jerk_ , she thinks.

  She knows that she's right. he does care. She sees it, saw it, all this time. When he looks at Fiona. When he looks at her sometimes. When he occasionally spaces out. He does still care about Trin, but he's too much of a stubborn imbecile to realize it. And too much of a hopeless moron to let her go.

  Man, she really should get him some therapy for this.

  Circuit, decides to show up. But the team she'll fight for ... that will have to be a surprise.

* * *

  "Alright everyone. Be careful and do _not_ let your guard down. There could be badniks anywhere," Sally calls. All of us - the Freedom Fighters, Knuckles and the Chaotix, even some of the citizens of New Mobotropolis - are gathered at Angel Island, preparing to fight.

  This is it.

  This is - _should be_ \- the end.

  Everything is strangely quiet for the end. We're all on guard as we head for the Master Emerald. But while I am on guard, I'm not entirely prepared when someone tackles me from behind.

  "Unf!" I land on the ground. Other people fall as mysterious attackers launch out of the trees at them.

  "Man. Just keep falling for the same trick, don't you?" Fiona asks. I fall limp, then buck her off fast.

  "And you keep using the same tactics," I respond. she gets up and throws a punch. I block it. "Hey, why am I always stuck fighting you?"

  "For the same reason my boyfriend is always stuck fighting Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes over there," Fiona replies, gesturing towards Sonic, who's fighting Scourge. Surprise, surprise. "We're evenly matched." She kicks at me. i block that too.

  "Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that," I say, snickering. I lash out with a punch of my own,  which she dodges. However, she doesn't expect the second punch, right after the first, which hits her side. She shouts , then tries three hits: two punches and a kick. I dodge the punches, but the kick sweeps my legs out from under me.

  "Evenly matched," she huffs. Someone's black gloved hand hits her, knocking her to the ground. Circuit stands above me, holding out one hand. I grin and take it, letting her help me up.

  "If you have powers, the logical thing to do would be to use them, you know," she says teasingly. I've never been more happy to see my other self. We turn to Fiona. "Well, Fiona? Are we _really_ evenly matched now?"

  "Were we ever?" I add, snickering. Fiona growls. Then a hooded figure approaches her.

  "Go on, Fiona. I'll deal with these two," the figure says. He sounds familiar, but I'm not sure who it is. Fiona smiles at them, then runs off. Circuit rolls her eyes.

  "Who's this bozo?" she mumbles to me. I giggle. The figure looks misshapen and lumpy. He smirks under his hood.

  "Laugh all you want, Trinity and Circuit," he says. "It makes no difference to me." The use of our names shocks me.

  "Who ... who _are_ you?" I ask.

  "Oh, you don't recognize me?" he asks.

  "Duh. You're wearing a cloak, dude," Circuit replies.

  "Precisely the point," he says. Then he pushes the hood off of his head.

  It's Eclipse the Darkling.

  _Eclipse?_

  His Dark Arms shoot out from under his cloak. He laughs.

  "You're ... you're the contact. Scourge's secret one," Circuit says in shock. _Wait, what?_

  "Exactly," he replies. "But enough of the intro. Let's get on with the real show! Cyzer!" A Dark Arm - probably once a Cyan Wisp - fuses into his arm, creating a laser cannon. He spins fast and aims it at Circuit.

  "Circuit! Watch it!" I shout. She pulls up her shield, but the blast hits her hard enough to knock her into a tree. She falls to the ground, unconscious. "Circuit!" Eclipse turns to me.

  "You're next," he says, pointing the laser cannon at me.

  "Ah." I quickly pull my shield up around me in a full dome just before he shoots another blast at me. Cyzer breaks away, tired, and I pull my shield down.

  "Hmm. Harder than I thought," he mutters. I shoot one of my own cyan blasts and it catches his shoulder. he doesn't even flinch even as blood leaks out of the wound. "No matter. I'll just have to hit harder. Blurk!" The square one merges with him, turning him blue and shiny. He leaps at me and I duck out of the way. Instead, eclipse hits a tree, almost knocking it over. I shoot a blast at him again, but it bounces off whatever armor he's got.

  "Oops," I mutter, then pull my shield up again. he hits it. And hits it. Over and over again, each hit making my shield weaker and harder to hold. it finally breaks, leaving me on the ground, panting from the effort.

  "Now let's finish this, why don't w-" The little block alien unfuses with Eclipse and falls to the ground, sweating and exhausted. "Oh come _on_ , Blurk!" Eclipse shouts. "Fine. Rhygenta, let's just-" Some one catches him from behind and flings him into a tree. He hits it and lands unconscious on the ground. I look up to see who saved me.

  "Shadow! Thanks," I say as the black and red hedgehog pulls me to my feet.

  "Hurry. Scourge has the seven Chaos Emeralds and is trying to finish ... whatever his plan is. Sonic's waiting for you at the bridge," Shadow explains. "Don't tell anyone I helped you. Eggman's already mad." I nod and head off, determined to end this.

* * *

  "Eclipse. Eclipse! Where are you?" a static-filled voice fills Eclipse's head. he groans and rubs the back of his head, certain that there's a large bump there, then gets up. "Eclipse!" Super-Scourge's voice comes through the earpiece Eclipse has.

  "I'm here, I'm here. What do you need?" Eclipse responds a little sluggishly. "And not so loud, please. I just got thrown into a tree."

  "So you're still on the island?"

  " _Yes_ , the darn thing."

  "Then get over here! Before someone else does!"

  "Okay, okay. I'll be there in a second. Cregal!" The flying Dark Arm fuses with him, giving him powerful wings to fly. As he heads towards the Master Emerald, he thinks one thing.

  _They will_ pay.

* * *

  "Oh good. you're okay," Sonic says as I run up to him. He's right by the bridge.

  "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go _now_ ," I tell him. We race across the bridge to the Master Emerald. When we reach it, all of the Chaos Emeralds are in place, but no one is here. "But Shadow said..."

  "Trin, look out!" Sonic shouts. I duck left just as something - some _one_ \- slams into the spot I was just in. I spin towards the person.

  "Well, well, well. Nice to see you, Super-Scourge. How's failing going for you?" I ask nonchalantly. He laughs.

  "Failing? _Failing_ _?_ I'm not failing, Trinity. This," he says, spreading his arms wide to indicate everything going on, "is only the beginning."

  "Y-yes, yes! Only the beginning!" Eggman echoes, trying not to sound scared. Then Eclipse, fused with a flying Dark Arm, lands near Super-Scourge. "What? What is _he_ doing here?" Super-Scourge laughs again.

  "Idiot! My plan was never to help you conquer the rest of Mobius! I used your troops and database to get the Emeralds so I can help Eclipse destroy this blasted planet!" Super-Scourge turns to the Master Emerald. "Now to find out how to unlock this blasted thing's power."

  "No!" Amy shouts from the bridge. She, Tails, and the other members of the Council of Chaos just crossed over to help us. Super-Scourge rolls his eyes in disgust.

  "It looks like I'll have to get rid of all of you first," he grumbles. "Eclipse, would you give me a hand?" Eclipse grins.

  "Of course. Rhygenta, if you please," he says. the music-note-shaped alien merges, giving Eclipse a sound cannon. He points it at Super-Scourge, who readies a blast of energy at his hand.

  "What are they ..." I mumble. Then Eclipse and Super-Scourge shoot at each other, the blasts joining together and shaking the island. It forms a huge sphere of crackling, unbalanced energy that grows quickly. Then it implodes on itself, knocking all of us down. I can't get up. Super-Scourge laughs.

  "This is the end!" he shouts. Eclipse's Dark Arms all cry out with glee. I realize that he's right. We're defeated. They've won.

  It's all over.


	15. Chapter 15

  There's a bright light in front of me. I groan and open my eyes. _A Super Emerald?_ The glowing Emerald is pure white and twice its size. I sit up and pick up the Super Emerald. Instantly, all of my pain is gone. I look at the Master Emerald. Part of it glows just like the Super Emerald. _That's it!_

  I know what to do.

  I start heading towards the Master Emerald. As I pass my friends, they look up at me. Then I'm there, the Emerald shining brighter than any star I've ever seen.

  _Break_ , something in my head whispers. With a loud shout, I raise the Super Emerald over my head and bring it down hard, tip-first, on the Master Emerald. It breaks, the shining shard shooting over to me to float above the Super Emerald. I step forward to the middle of the area where the Master Emerald usually sits, sending the Emerald and shard back to their pedestal.

  The other six shards float around me. The Super Emerald reaches out to the other Emeralds, all of them going Super.

  _The Servers are the Seven Chaos..._

  The shards join each Emerald, glowing with them. Immense power fills the air, flowing through me.

  _Chaos is Power, Power enriched by the Heart..._

  I let the power in, let it fill me. My fur goes white, flashing and glowing with the colors of the Emeralds. I feel my Chaos Power heighten, growing stronger.

  I just went Hyper.

  I pull the glowing shards of the Super Master Emerald together, making it whole again. Its powers have unlocked and I feel them added to my Hyper powers. Then I turn to Super-Scourge and Eclipse.

  "Get the Master Emerald, Eclipse! I'll deal with her," Super-Scourge shouts. Eclipse runs towards me. I flick a hand at him, and energy knocks him back before trapping him in an impenetrable bubble.

  "Don't think so, bud," I mutter. Super-Scourge growls.

  "Must I do _everything_ ?" He throws a blast of energy at me. I counter it with my own. "Stop ruining my plans!" he shouts, then powers up a huge blast. I power up one to counter it. When they collide, they don't bounce off of each other and dissipate. Instead, they combine, leaving us to see who will win. I push back hard, pressing as much energy and hyper power as possible into my side. But Super-Scourge has fury on his side as well as strength and power, and I can already tell that I'm losing.

  The blast knocks me back into the Master Emerald. I use my Hyper powers to pull it in front of me and the Super Emeralds around me. the energy in them contracts around me, then bursts outward and hits Super-Scourge. He falls, injured, to the ground. I sit for a moment, stunned, then get up and float towards him and Eclipse. They both look at me.

  "I could kill you both right now," I say. Super-Scourge's eyes flash with fear for a split second. Eclipse just looks at me.

  "Are you going to?" he asks. I pause before answering, making my decision.

  "No," I answer. "I'm not going to kill you today." Eclipse nods. Scourge, the super energy having worn off, visibly sighs with relief. "Go. Now." I break down the bubble around Eclipse. He glares at me.

  "I'll be back. You can count on it," he says menacingly. I shrug.

  "We're already prepared," I tell him. "Now go before I change my mind." I turn to Scourge. "You too."

  Once they're gone, I turn to my friends. They're getting up, brushing themselves off, helping each other. I go help Amy up, then Sonic. Then my energy runs out and I collapse, tired, onto the ground.

  "Trin!" Amy exclaims. Everything is hazy and grayish. Someone picks me up and the others crowd around.

  "Are you okay?" Angel asks.

  "That was so cool!" Sandy shouts.

  "What  _was_ that?" Silvian questions.

  "Okay, guys. Back up," Sonic says from close behind me. I think he might have been the one who picked me up. "Let's get her home."


	16. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Just wow.  
> A year later, folks, and it's finally over. Ish.  
> This has been so much fun, guys, and I want to thank you all for reading this, my very first fanfic! I want to let you all know that I'll be taking a break once this one is done, and then I might be back with Part 2. BUT! If you guys want to finish it your way, please do so! I'd love to read them, so put the name of the story continuation in the comments and I'll cheak it out! Again, thanks so much and I'll see you guys later!

_A few days later..._

  "You ready?" Sonic asks me. I nod, trying to hide the fact that I am definitely  _not_ ready. He laughs. Of course he can see straight through me and my lie.

  We're back at Angel Island, this time for something a lot happier that a fight. Now we're here to officially induct me as a member of the Council of Chaos.

  I've never been so nervous.

  I was  _supposed_ to wear a dress, because we're supposed to look nice, but when I put on the dress Amy picked out for me...

  _"Um, Amy? I'm not sure I want to wear this," I say, tugging at the skirt of the cute yet modest dress I'm wearing. I've never really been a dress person, but Amy squeals with delight._

  _"You look sooo cute!" she says. Someone knocks on the door._

_"Hey, can I come in?" Sonic's voice comes from the other side f the door._

_"No!" I shout as Amy shrieks, "Yes!" He decides to trust Amy over me and pokes his head through the doorway._

_"Hey, we gotta go in about thirty minutes, okay?" he clarifies. Amy nods, not listening._

_"Yes, yes, fine. What do you think?" she asks, pointing to me. He stares at me for what feels like a long time, like it's the weirdest thing he's ever seen. I feel my face heat up._ This dress makes me feel way too...vulnerable, _I think._

_"Yeah, nope! Can't wear this, sorry!" I shout, side-stepping around Sonic and practically running to my room to change._

  ...yeah, so instead I'm wearing dress pants and a nice shirt. Amy's still mad at me.

  "Come on, Starrling," Jen calls. "We're ready for you!" I climb the steps, taking my place with Cyan Chaos Emerald. Octavius smiles.

  "Let us begin. Trinity Starr, thank you for joining us you have shown that you are brave, clever, and true. Do you promise to uphold courage and kindness, as well as always do what is right, as your ancestors have before you?" All of my fear has melted, leaving me confident in my choice.

  "I promise," I respond, loud and clear. The other members smile.

  "Then please step forward with your Chaos Emerald as the Chaos Keepers give you your place among us through the Master Emerald," Octavius finishes. I gently scoop up the Cyan Emerald, cradling it in my hands like a baby flickie, and step closer to the Master Emerald. Octavius begins first, letting pure Chaos Energy flow from him, through his Emerald, and into the Master Emerald. The others follow, filling the Master Emerald and becoming crystallized. The energy then flows from the Master Emerald through the Cyan Emerald and into me. I close my eyes, letting the warm, happy feeling of general togetherness fill my heart and soul. Then it's over and we're all standing on the ground, normal.

  "Welcome to the Council of Chaos, Keeper Trinity!" Jen shouts. Everyone, including my friends that stand farther off, clap and cheer. It's become official.

  I am now a member of the Council of Chaos.

* * *

  "You don't have to leave, you know," I say quietly to Circuit. When we got back to Freedom HQ, she announced that she was heading back to her dimension today. Now she looks at me, a sad smile on her face. "You could stay and become a Freedom Fighter," I suggest.

  "I know," she mumbles, pulling me into a hug that's more sisterly than even my own siblings have given me. "But you also know that I have to go. My entire life is over there. Besides, I've done enough here. I woke Jen up-"

  "That was Rue who woke up Jen and you know it," I correct. We both giggle, then go silent as we remember how Circuit built a machine to pull all of the Red Energy out of Jen. It ultimately led to Rue having to direct all of the energy into the Red Emerald himself and Jen waking up fast and asking how long she'd been and if she missed my ceremony, which she hadn't.

  "Well, I also helped update your computer stuff, too. And I'll be of more use to you in Moebius anyway," she finishes. I nod, knowing that it's true.

  "You'll come visit, right?" I ask. She adapts a look of "well,  _duh_ " on her face.

  "Obviously. I wouldn't miss a chance for the world," she responds. I laugh. "Well, see ya, me."

  "Yeah, see ya," I say, waving. She steps through the Warp Ring, waving back. And somehow, someway, I know that she will be back.

  And  _I_ wouldn't miss it for the world.

* * *

  "Sonic, where  _are_ you taking me?" I ask for about the millionth time. He pulls at my hand, reminding me to keep going.

  "I told you, it's a surprise. We're almost there, I promise," he responds. For the millionth time.

  "We were 'almost there' about half an hour ago," I say. He snickers, then glances over at something.

  "Okay, okay, okay. Now close your eyes and - close 'em! No peeking! - and follow my lead," he says, pulling my hand closer to him so I can tell where we're going.

  "This is silly," I say. He shushes me. At some point, I start to hear water burbling gently, "What is that?" I ask, but I'm shushed again. A moment later, we stop.

  "Okay. You can look now," he says. I open my eyes. A little creek runs in front of us, murmuring as it catches on stones and pebbles in it's bed. I watch it for a while, then turn to him.

  "Alright, I give up. How did you know that this was here?" He shrugs.

  "Antoine told me about it. He said that he used to come here all the time to think," Sonic explains, sitting on the bank of the creek. I sit beside him.

  "That's nice, but why are you showing me a creek?"

  "We aren't looking at the creek. We're looking at the stars."

  I giggle. "Believe it or not, I've seen the stars before."

  "Well aren't  _you_ hard to impress." I roll my eyes.

  "I'm sorry. What I meant to say is that this is  _amazing_." He shakes his head at my sarcasm, smiling, and leans back, looking up at the sky.

  "Prepare to eat your words," he counters, pointing up at the sky. I look up myself and gasp quietly.

  Thousands of stars fill the sky, bright in the vast endless dome above the world. Swirls and sprinkles of glowing light radiate in the night, making me wonderstruck. There have to be over a million, yet they don't look crowded at all. "Wow," I whisper.

  "Uh-huh. That's what I thought," Sonic says. I smack his shoulder lightly. "Hey!"

  "Shut up," I tell him, giggling. "I'll say when I eat my words, not you." He smiles and closes his eyes. It's only at this moment that I realize just how tired he looks. "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah. You know, being the 'hero of Mobius' is fun, but also extremely exhausting," he mumbles. "It would be easier if my mind would let me sleep for once."

  "You haven't been sleeping? Are you sure you're okay?"

  "I'm fine. And yes, I've been sleeping, but sometimes not a lot. Too much thinking. I hate it. It's kinda better talking about it, though. You know?" I nod. I completely understand.

  "Do you ever think about...about what happened after I woke up that time I passed out?" I ask hesitantly. He laughs.

  "Duh. Not thinking about it would be like ignoring the fact that our entire world has pretty much been taken over by a crazy evil madman." He looks over at me, smiling softly. "I think about it a lot." I look away, my face turning red. "Trin." I look back at him. "I've been thinking about it, and I was wondering if there's any chance - in the future, of course - but any chance you could ever consider being more...more than a weird, not-friend-friend."

  "You mean, your-your girlfriend?"

  "N-no. Yes. Maybe?" he answers, unsure. I smile at my hands, clasped together in my lap. I can tell that my entire face is bright, most likely non-flattering red.

  "Maybe. In the future," I tell him cryptically. Then I grin devilishly. "But first..." I tap his shoulder and run off. "You're it!"

  "Hey! I'm gonna get you for that!" he shouts back, jumping up and chasing after me.

  "Only if you can catch me first, slowpoke!"

  "Who are you calling slow?"

  I laugh, feeling happy and childish. Maybe, if time and fate allow it, I  _can_ stand beside him as his girlfriend. But those decisions can wait until later.

* * *

  "I shouldn't have agreed to this plan," the leader of the Black Arms, Black Doom, says. "You won't fail again?" Eclipse turns from the window he was looking into.

  "Trust me, Master. This time I won't fail. I added a little something extra to this batch, without the knowledge of those idiotic Freedom Fighters or their allies," Eclipse responds. Then he holds up a closed fist and opens it. Inside there is a dust that, with Black Doom's closer inspection, is made from flecks of glowing green gem.

  "Flecks from the Master Emerald?" he asks, looking from the dust to Eclipse, who nods.

  "Should make these new wisps twice as strong Dark Arms." Eclipse's own Dark Arms float around him, giving cries of sad outrage. "Oh, little ones, you'll always be special to me!" he reassures them.

  "How touching," Black Doom mutters. "Keep an eye on those cultivating wisps. As soon as they are ready, I want them trained to top work."

  "Of course, Master. And then my brother and all of those stupid Freedom Fighters will watch their world break apart!" Eclipse says, a new plan already forming in his mind.  _These new Dark Arms will come as quite a nasty surprise to them, won't they?_ Eclipse thinks.

   _Yes, quite the surprise indeed._

 

                                                                                                                                                     The End (or NOT!)

                                                                                                                                                   Look out for Part 2!!

 

 


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